We are always looking for new places to explore for weekend trips and in this case had a lot of hotel points to use up so Memphis became our next target. This would also be our first weekend trip in an our own EV.
We had charged up our vehicle from the free charger at our apartment earlier in the week so were ready to head out as soon as I could log off work. Tesla makes trip planning easy. You just enter your destination and it adds in whatever charging stops it recommends and tells you how long to charge at each stop and what percentage your battery should be when you arrive at your final destination.
We might have been able to make it all the way there without charging, but to avoid having to find a charger immediately in Memphis and to give ourselves a little more wiggle room, they recommended we stop at the Tupelo Supercharger which would be a great time to have dinner.
The Tupelo Superchargers are in the corner of a mall that surprisingly isn't quite as abandoned as many are becoming across the country. There was a busy food court where we easily found some decent food and before we could even finish, we started getting notifications that are car had finished charging and we might start incurring idle fees. Idle fees kick in at some supercharger stations that are 50% or greater in use. We knew there was only 1 or 2 other cars charging (out of 8 stalls) so didn't have to rush but we were anxious to get back on the road. The sun was setting as we returned to our car.
We stayed at the Courtyard Memphis Germantown which appeared to be just finishing complete hotel renovations. The pool was closed for tile work but the halls, other common areas, and our room felt new. We had a quiet room on he first floor facing the back where we could easily view the spot where we had parked our Tesla (although the front desk man sent us to the elevators and told us to go to the third floor - fortunately, I had seen the room number in the app).
Behind our hotel was supposed to be all kinds of trails and a very large park, so we were up early to do a little walking before the day's activities. On our way to the trail head (a couple blocks away), we walked right past a Waffle House. I could hear Paul's stomach grumble (or at least his eyes grow a little larger) so we made a detour for breakfast first. The restaurant was still quiet before the breakfast rush and the food was fast and good. And then we continued on for our walk.
The trails were paved and followed a river and around a few ponds. We came upon a flock of ducks that all popped their heads up over the bank in succession a bit comically as we approached. And then more ducks came to greet us and eventually a flock of geese who played quite nicely with the ducks.
The next two photos are from Electric Overlook which is part of the TVA network. The Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) is a federally owned electric utility company in 7 states in the south. I know them best for their hydropower in northern Alabama.
After a nice walk, we were ready to start a day of sightseeing. Our first stop was the Memphis Zoo. This is one of the few zoos in the country that has Giant Pandas, although unfortunately they were not exhibit this day. Fortunately, the rest of the zoo is quite impressive so by the time we got to the panda exhibit to realize they weren't on exhibit, we had already had so many great experiences.
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| Dari, an 8.5 year old female Sumatran Tiger that gave birth to two cubs (pictured below) in May. |
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| Two cubs, Nakal and Suci who were born May 5, 2023. |
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| Mom joins in on the play |
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| Later in the morning, we checked back in on the tigers and they were resting comfortably. |
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| Lion exhibit - There was a male and two females. |
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| Jamela, a 13 year old female |
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| Thabo, a 12 year old male |
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| Akeelah, a 13 year old female and full sister to Jamela |
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| These Plush Crested Jays were so sociable. They would come up to the screen where we watched. |
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| There was an open air room in the bird building where you could join birds from around the world. |
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| African black-footed Penguins |
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| Chilean Flamingos |
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| Lesser Flamingo |
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| Hippo |
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| In the KangoZoo |
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| Red Kangaroo |
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| Momma and Joey |
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| Joey hanging upside down |
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| Galapagos Tortoise - Maybe the ones we see next month won't be hiding in a corner.... |
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| They had started decorating for Halloween at the zoo. |
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| The China exhibit where we had hoped to see the Giant Pandas. |
After a morning at the zoo, we headed downtown for lunch at Memphis's oldest cafe,
The Arcade Restaurant which dates back to 1919. I understand many celebrities have passed through its doors and that it was even a regular spot for Elvis at one point. His favorite peanut butter and banana sandwich is on the menu which Paul decided to give a try. (He said it was quite good.)
A short walk from The Arcade Restaurant is the
National Civil Rights Museum at the Lorraine Motel. The Lorraine Motel was the sight of the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. We didn't have the energy on this day to go through the entire museum (we'll have to go back) but we did spend some time at the outdoor exhibit of his assassination which is really well-done.
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| April 4, 1968 - Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was giving a speech from the balcony in front of his second floor hotel room (where the red and white wreath is) when he was shot from a boarding house across the street. He was in Memphis to support striking sanitation workers. |
We then walked towards Beale Street
On the way back to the car, we walked through this really nice Dr. Martin Luther King. Jr. Reflection Park.
This time, as we walked back to the car, we actually remembered the pre-cool car feature so it was really nice to step into a comfortable car. On the way home, we stopped at a Tesla Supercharging station in Memphis to charge to 90%, leaving some room to charge for free tomorrow morning at a solar-powered charging station in a park.
We were quite tired and so headed back to the hotel for the day. For dinner, we walked over to
Las Tortugas Deli Mexicana which was a really good casual Mexican restaurant that is owned by a man from Mexico City and his son.
Sunday morning we were up fairly early again, although this time with plans to grab some breakfast at the hotel bistro and take it to a park (Shelby Farms Park) with walking paths and picnic tables and free electricity for our car. For an early Sunday morning, we were quite surprised at how busy this park was with walkers, joggers, and six other EVs already plugged in. The charging station could handle 10 vehicles although electric golf carts belonging to the park occupied two of spaces.
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| Killdeer |
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| Great Blue Heron across the lake |
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| Female Mallard |
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| Two Double-crested Cormorants |
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| Killdeer |
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| Double-crested Cormorant |
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| Killdeer |
We spent about an hour at Shelby Farms so gained about 6 kWh, about 10% of our battery. Then we were off to the
Memphis Botanic Garden. We are members of the Atlanta Botanical Garden (as well as our local Birmingham Botanical Garden) and our membership to the Atlanta Botanical Garden has gotten us free access to so many other amazing gardens including this one. This is the membership we have gotten the most use of.
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| Budding Flowers by Ernests Vitins |
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| I spent so much time in this area chasing butterflies, moths, and bumblebees! |
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| This Eastern Tiger Swallow-tail had no issues flying even with its wings so beat up. |
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| Monarch |
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| Gulf Fritillary Butterfly |
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| Snowberry Clearwing, a type of moth - Some people call these hummingbird moths because of how they hover like a hummingbird. This was a new experience to watch for me! |
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| Rose Garden |
After a nice morning at the gardens, we began our journey back home. We stopped at the Tesla Supercharger in Tupelo on the way home and had lunch at the same mall. And then we made a stop at
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| Elvis Presley's earliest home which still sits on the exact site of his birthplace. |
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| A young Elvis - his original guitar has unfortunately been lost |
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| The church he grew up in |
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| A chapel on site for Presley fans |
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| A young and old Elvis |
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| Reflection Pond |
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| 1937 Plymouth - the type of car they believe the Presley's drove to Memphis when they moved from Tupelo |
It was then time to head home after a great weekend. Our entire trip was about 540 miles. Here is a summary of our charging.
Location | kWh (approximate) | Cost | Approximate Time | How we spent the time |
Tupelo | 27 kWh | $9.91 | 35 minutes | Dinner |
Memphis | 33 kWh | $11.90 | 26 minutes | Watched YouTube on Tesla screen |
Shelby Farms Park | 6 kWh | $0.00 | 1 hour | Picnic breakfast and bird watching |
Tupelo | 31 kWh | $11.20 | 35 minutes | Lunch |
Home | 39 kWh | $0.00 | 6 hours 11 minutes | Working |
TOTAL | 136 kWh | $33.01 |
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