I had almost no vacation time left, but the proposition of a trip down south, also allowing Rosie to hang out with family and as part of celebrations for my good friend Shelloo's birthday? I knew I had to make this trip happen somehow.

What's a few 12-hour workdays in exchange for saved time off anyway.

Landing at Memphis' surprisingly small airport, Rosie was already there with her aunt to both pick us up and then drop the three of us off downtown.

I thought about the one time I barely knew Rosie, yet overheard her say that her father was from down south and that she still has lots of relatives down there. Being the wanker that I am, I asked if he was from Burgeo - on the south coast of Newfoundland - and was promptly put in my place through a certain level of unimpressed disdain.

Now I found myself speeding along a six-lane interstate, past modest bungalows fending off lush vegetation, while heading into looming skyscrapers. The point was proven even further as I was clearly not in Burgeo anymore.

We were booked into the Crowne Plaza, an acceptable option along the north edge of downtown. They stuck us in a room facing the interstate which could bother some people because of noise, but I sleep heavy enough that there was little worry.

The room also provided us with a great view of our first stop today, the Memphis Pyramid.

Constructed from 1989 to 1991, the Memphis Pyramid was originally going to be a strange mishmash of things and features, including a music museum, a shortwave radio station playing Memphis-specific music, a connection to a nearby planned amusement park, and an exterior funicular going up the exterior glass.

Financial difficulties left the pyramid as just your typical music venue and sports arena. The University of Memphis basketball team played here, as well as some of the world's biggest musical acts, like Prince, Gn'R, Soundgarden and Mary J. Blige.

After departing Vancouver, the NBA Grizzlies would also play here for a couple of years before the FedEx Forum was built. How iconic would it be if Memphis actually made The Pyramid work & the NBA allowed basketball to be played in an unconventional structure? I'm pretty sure it would lead to The Pyramid being much more iconic than it is today, especially as I doubt any of you even knew the FedEx Forum existed before this paragraph.

The FedEx Forum was constructed at a cost of $250 million dollars. Every article I've found simply says it was cost prohibitive to renovate The Pyramid to NBA standards, but they don't say what that cost was estimated to be. Often times major sports in North America will take something like $85-million in renovations and decide that taxpayers should instead build them a new $250-million palace instead. It doesn't necessarily mean that The Pyramid needed $250-million in renovations.

Anyway, The Pyramid was left without a major sporting tenant and concerts would only continue for a few more years (Bob Seger being the last show in 1997). The unique structure that was supposed to become something like St. Louis' Gateway Arch, instead became a white elephant.

It's only in 2010 that Memphis finally worked out a plan with outdoor goods store Bass Pro Shops. The Pyramid was renovated into the largest Bass Pro Shop in the world, with two restaurants, an archery range, bowling alley, aquarium and hotel. The hotel rooms are what you'd call rustic chic with stuffed deer heads and log beds, which I thought would be hilarious accommodations for Rosie, Shelloo & I, but not at $250USD/night, haha.

The only time I'd ever been in a Bass Pro Shop before was at Great Lakes Crossings with my father; a man who's much more of an angler and hunter than I am. Much like that last time, my shopping interest was to look at gloves and long johns that would keep me warm while biking, shovelling or hanging out in cold buildings on Grand Boulevard in Detroit.

But we weren't in the world's largest Bass Pro to shop or inexplicably buy hats for our nephews even though they don't live within 1000 miles of a Bass Pro Shop, we were here to head up to the observation deck and survey our surroundings. And that we did, via the elevator that took close to a minute and had a pre-recorded voiceover of a guy who had the slowest southern drawl I'd ever heard, "wyelllllcome to Baaaass Prooo Shop. Glaaaad you'rrrre here."

If you're wondering why they built a giant pyramid in Memphis, it's because Memphis is named after an ancient nome (county) seat in ancient Egypt. This Memphis was located about 18km (11mi) from the Great Pyramids of Giza.

Another fun fact is that the tallest building in Memphis, the one in the foreground, is currently vacant and abandoned. Plans were announced after we would leave though, to renovate the building into a 550-room, 200-apartment, Loews Hotel.

As for dinner, it was obviously time for BBQ and luckily just a few months earlier I heard on my favourite show that there was only one place to go for BBQ in Memphis. And if Tony & Wilbon say I need to go to Charles Vergo's Rendezvous, then we were headed to the Rendezvous!!

Hilariously enough, Rosie had already went to Charles Vergo's Rendezvous earlier in the week while visiting Graceland, but a historic (since 1948) spot in an alley that came well-regarded from TK and Willybuns (and Rosie)? This would definitely work for me.

I was slighly indifferent about the actual food since my friend Arntz was unimpressed by all of the BBQ he had in Memphis, plus Memphis uses a dry rub versus the Kansas City BBQ that I hold in highest regard, a bbq smothered in delicious sauce.

I was wrong though. Coupled with delicious local brew, I absolutely loved these ribs. It's funny that I'm not much a meat eater, but if I just happened to live in Memphis or Kansas City, I would eat so much more meat via BBQ.

I see people who are critical online of the setting at Charles Vergo's, saying it's hokey and played-out in terms of wall hangers and crowded tables. Personally I found it just fine. I liked how it was dark and windowless down in this space, with cool, old pictures and documents on all the walls.

I know what people are going for with this critique, and I've felt that way at BBQ places along the touristy river walk in San Antonio, but I really didn't feel it here.

Rosie's knowledge of Memphis paid off even further when she said that 13-story Peabody Hotel had a rooftop observation deck. I wasn't quite sure how I missed this in my pre-trip research, as this was totally up my alley.

A view out towards the Lincoln American Tower.

And FedEx Forum, home of the Memphis Grizzlies.

BBQ, The Peabody Hotel, The Memphis Pyramid...we were checking off all of the Memphis things in a very short period of time. We only got to the hotel around 3pm, so we were doing pretty good with limited daylight hours.

And of course, a trip to Memphis isn't complete without a visit to Beale Street.

The first place we went was lame. A frozen daiquiri spot where you have to take your hat off at 9pm and the bouncer was waiting there at 8:58, 8:59, just to get me right as the clock struck 9pm.

Leaving there, we found a much better place in Silky O'Sullivan's. Especially as a neighbouring table gave us one of the signature giant buckets of alcoholic fruit juice, saying that it tasted too much like beer for them. Score! The three of us very much enjoyed drinking out of the oversized straws, while the bucket seemed to last forever.

Next to Silky O'Sullivan's was the supported facade of the Gallina Exchange Building, one of those jobs with tall steel girders holding the decorative front of a building in place after the floors, walls and back have all been torn down. I found it strange how perplexed Shelloo & Rosie were by this, but afterwards I learned that Detroit has the tallest one of these on Earth.

When you see a 7-story preserved facade on the regular, I guess a 3-story one seems normal.

Anyway, just around this time of being enamored with the reinforced facade, Shelloo must've thought there was more sidewalk behind her and I watched in slow-mo as she tumbled into Beale Street like one would flop onto a comfy couch. The Silky O'Sullivan's bucket was clearly working, haha. It wasn't a sad, sloppy drunk type of thing either though, we were all laughing and she didn't get hurt at all.

I guess that's one way of trying to get your feet 10 feet off of Beale. Not sure that's what Marc Cohn meant though, haha.

I thought about how I've always regretted that I didn't do it big on Bourbon Street because Geordie got food poisoning and it was before I'd go do things by myself. At least now I can counter that I've done it big on Beale instead whenever people are talking about Bourbon Street.

The night would continue with drinking in the street and wandering into Jerry Lawlor's bar. And then another place with another live act. And some bar along the way sold giant pints filled to the brim, where I left Shelloo to head to the washroom, then laughed as someone rushed up to her as she was double-fisting my and her beer excitedly wondering where she acquired said beers. It didn't seem like it got that late into the night, but all of the great bands we were hearing strangely kept finishing up their sets.

This level of revelry and consumption was only leading to one place.

The space noises of my phone alarm jolted me awake and I soon found myself trudging over to the rental location near Memphis' minor league ballpark.

Walking past the Shelby County Courthouse, one great thing about this morning was that now I had two Tennessee courthouses checked off. Only 93 to go! LOL.

I also walked by the 29-story Sterick Building that's been standing vacant since the 80s. This building has been featured on abandoned building websites forever, so it was fun to finally be on the ground in its vicinity.

Although, I really haven't seen it on many websites recently, and the situation I found on the ground would coincide with that development.

It took me a while to pickup the rental car because dude didn't have it cleaned, but then I was back at the hotel to pickup Shelloo & Rosay for breakfast. Slinking out of the room and trying to get by a cleaning lady without bumping her cart, we quietly looked down until we were startled by her, "HEY HOW Y'ALL DOING!" friendly morning greeting, haha.

Anyway, seeing as Shelloo had never been to Arkansas or a Waffle House, I thought it was in our best interest to schedule breakfast over the de Soto bridge and the Mississippi River, past marshy plains and into West Memphis, Arkansas.

So now her experiences in "The Natural State" include having pretty good Waffle House that simply took forever to prepare! Check another state off the list!

And with that, we returned over the de Soto bridge and back into Tennessee.

Continue to Part 2...