Arkansas Trip: Brunch, Barbecue, and FIRE!

I packed up my bags, loaded them into my mom’s car, and she drove me to Alex’s house to get ready to go to Arkansas!  Alex’s family had invited over quite a few family friends for a send-off brunch for us!  Unfortunately (or fortunately for me), I was too busy shoveling the amazing food in my mouth to take any pics :(.

Anyway, after we finished up brunch and said our goodbyes, we hit the road headed to Arkansas.  We’ve made this drive together as well as separately and we both agreed that it is a million times better together!

Somewhere between Decatur and in the middle of nowhere, Mississippi, we decided that we were going to stop in Memphis for a late lunch or what else, but barbecue.  We go through Memphis (literally the only city we pass through) and Alex, being a HUGE fan of Man vs. Food, wanted to try a barbecue place that had been featured on the show called Rendevouz.  Since we had a game plan, which is rare for us, we typed it in the gps and we were good to go.

Of course, when we get there, we find out that Rendevouz was only open for dinner that evening, so that was a no-go.  So we drove around downtown Memphis looking for a good barbecue place and as we were driving, Alex’s phone rang.  It was his little brother, Andy and since he was driving, he decided he’d just wait until we got stopped somewhere and he’d call him back.  Then, Andy called my cell phone, which he never does, so I had Alex answer in case it was an emergency.

Turns out that Andy, his girlfriend, and his girlfriend’s family were in Memphis and actually saw us driving around.  They were heading to Beale Street to get something to eat so we decided we’d join them!

As many times as I’ve been in Tennessee, I’ve never been to Beale Street in Memphis so we enjoyed getting to just get out and walk around.

The entire time we were there I had Marc Cohn’s “Walking in Memphis” running through my head…I’m such a dork! :)

Since they had Britney’s (Andy’s girlfriend), entire family, they were interested in doing some sightseeing while they were there; Alex and I on the other hand, were starving and didn’t want to spend too much time there.  So, unfortunately, we parted ways so we could eat and get back on the road and they could sight see…not before we got a picture though!

I know, I should have had on teal and it would have been perfect! ;)  Can you tell the sun was in our eyes…yuck!

One of the first places we passed had LOTS of trophies in the window, so we felt like with all of those recognitions, they couldn’t be bad right? 

We placed our orders…chicken platter for me, ribs, of course, for Alex, and in the time it took for me to snap a picture of my handsome lunch date (doesn’t he look good in yellow?) and check in on FourSquare (p.s. it is my new favorite travel tool!), our food was at our table! 

 

We were starving so I, again, didn’t take a picture, but the food was absolutely amazing (both the ribs and the chicken…we’re one of those couples that has to try the other’s food)!  So, if you’re ever in Memphis, definitely go eat at the Pig…those awards are well-deserved! :)

Then, it was time to say goodbye to Memphis, and hit the road again!

And literally before we knew it, we were in Arkansas (yeah I’m not kidding, this is the acceleration lane to get back on the interstate) and you can kind of see the Arkansas sign on the bridge in the picture above!)

 

So, we spent the remaining 3 or so hours chatting, and belting out songs from our iPods.

When we finally got to Conway, we unloaded my ridiculous amount of luggage and got settled in for the evening.  We were both exhausted and Alex had to work the next morning so we both turned in pretty early.

I was peacefully sleeping in Alex’s room when all of a sudden I heard this loud pop and I happened to look toward his window and I see these red and orange lights flickering.  Alex’s apartment backs up to a grassy bluff, so I couldn’t figure out what on earth that could have been so I hopped up and peeked out the window and this is what I saw…

I sat there and watched it a second trying to a.) wake up enough to make sense of what was going on and b.) decide what I should do.  I finally woke Alex up and had him look.  By the time he woke up, it was two huge rings of fire that were working their way down the grassy bluff to the electric boxes behind the apartments.  It was quite scary!  We went out on his balcony to get a better look and his neighbor was out on their balcony as well and said she called the fire department.  Right before they arrived, this is what it looked like!

  Pretty scary!  Certainly not a way I ever want to wake up again!

Anyway, after we calmed down, we went back to sleep, ready to begin a busy week!

To be continued…

P.S. This is what that grassy bluff looked like the next morning…

(All that black is the grass that burned!)