16 replies to this topic

[KevinKorell]

We will be in Memphis just 24 hours, and the earlier portion of that period will be spent getting from the train station and sleeping. We have all day Friday 7/22 in town. The trolley rides will not take all day (especially if the Madison Avenue line isn't back running before then ), so other activities can be planned for the rest of the day. I'm not sure if we have any diehard Elvis fans (I am not), but I don't think there would be enough time available to get to and from Graceland and take the tour. It might be easier and definitely cheaper to hang out in a downtown Burger King and see if he arrives.

Another more probable thing to do might be visiting Mud Island in the Mississippi River. It is separated from downtown Memphis by a small lagoon. A suspended monorail runs between downtown and Mud Island, so it does become a rail-related activity. It travels at the breakneck speed of 7 mph and the long journey is 1/3 of a mile. Have fun trying to do the math and figure out from that how much time the trip takes! The monorail is suspended from a pedestrian bridge, so it's possible to walk as well. But what fun would that be for this group of railfans? The monorail station on the downtown Memphis side appears to be just a short walk from either the Main Street Trolley or the Riverfront Loop.

Mud Island Monorail is also known as Memphis Suspension Railway. This Wikipedia page includes a short video clip of the train approaching the downtown station.

Once on Mud Island, the first link above shows what activities there are to do. It may be our best way to kill time, and if it's a very hot day, an island in the river is probably a good place to be. One of the elements of Mud Island is the Riverwalk, a scale replica of the Mississippi River shoreline from Illinois down to the Gulf of Mexico (including New Orleans where we will have just been) right alongside the real river.

[jis]

Mud island it is!

[AlanB]

I vote for the monorail ride and Mud Island.

[KevinKorell]

The answer: DO NOT READ IF YOU STILL WANT TO FIGURE IT OUT YOURSELF!

It travels at the breakneck speed of 7 mph and the long journey is 1/3 of a mile. Have fun trying to do the math and figure out from that how much time the trip takes!

Michael and I each did the math separately, and got similar results, proving we are both still smarter than a 5th Grader. It comes in at about 2.85 minutes, so we'll say it's a 3 minute ride (which gives me about 9 seconds of "padding" if I work it into the itinerary!)

Edited by KevinKorell, 08 April 2011 - 03:33 PM.

[steve4031]

BBQ is big in Memphis. Maybe we can plan a meal at a restaurant on Beale street. Also, I believe there Sun studios has tourist attraction. The Elvis Presley stuff is far from downtown, so that might be difficult to get to on public transportation. There is also a civil rights museum that is close to the Amtrak station.

[CCC]

Here are some photos from a same day turn (6:30AM-11:30PM) on the CONO in 2004.I had plenty of time to tour the sights of Memphis along with Graceland and the ancillary museums there.This was a May trip and nothing was happening at Mud Island.I rode the Main St and River line trolleys multiple times.

https://picasaweb.go...gCJuqh7yI4Ku7DA

Edit. The camera time is not correct

Edited by rrrick, 22 February 2011 - 01:30 PM.

[steve4031]

How did you get to graceceland?

[KevinKorell]

Good news regarding the Madison Avenue trolley line. March restoration looks good, and even if that date is further delayed, we still have until July.

Graceland is not on any of the three trolley lines. It can be accessed by taxi or bus. The bus is MATA's 43 route which runs primarily on Elvis Presley Blvd. and serves the North Terminal downtown, which is at the north end of the Main Street trolley and the point where the Riverfront Loop trolley begins.

[CCC]

How did you get to graceceland?

I used the local bus system as mentioned by Kevin.The bus now runs every half hour on week days and takes 45 minutes by local streets.The distance to Graceland is about 9 miles from the center.One can take a taxi via an expressway and local streets to cut the time to 15 minutes.That would be the best option if a group wants to share the taxi tab.I would go again.One caution about photography at Graceland and the Elvis Museums.Flash photograpy and tripods are prohibited.I deleted a lot of blurry photos.

[GG-1]

BBQ is big in Memphis. Maybe we can plan a meal at a restaurant on Beale street.

Also, I believe there Sun studios has tourist attraction.

The Elvis Presley stuff is far from downtown, so that might be difficult to get to on public transportation.

There is also a civil rights museum that is close to the Amtrak station.

Aloha

The BBQ sounds much more appealing. Elvis has no fascination to me, He is a good performer with whom I worked one concert, so visiting something that was once a home has no meaning to me. And if the MIB are correct "Elvis has left the planet"

Edited by GG-1, 24 February 2011 - 12:11 AM.