, Wet Ribs that were supposed to be dry, and the BBQ Nachos. Yes, friends---Catherine ordered that one all on her own. Jalapeños included. And let me tell you, it was YUMMY. 
The Neeley family started Interstate BBQ, and it’s filled with history. They were a little guarded about showing the strange white guy the smoker—the only restaurant to shoot down his request to get in the kitchen to see where the goodness is cooked. The interchange between Sean and the manager went something like this…”Wow. Is that your happy face?” “This IS my happy face.” Oh wait. I am sure you are wondering about the BBQ Nachos. This is the first time I have said, “I hope all the Nacho chips are moist and soggy.” Seriously. Warm Nacho Chips slathered in BBQ sauce, with smoked pork shoulder, slathered in nacho cheese and jalapeños. To eat was divine. Despite the sensitive staff, the food was good and filled us up for GRACELAND.
Yes, Catherine is a little excited. Graceland is by FAR worth it. The house itself is amazing—a beautiful place stuck in 1970. It’s well maintained, and Sean and I found many rooms that we will be using for inspiration when we redecorate. POOL ROOM for sure. Seeing the gold records on the wall puts you in awe, and seeing his memorable concert costumes makes you gawk. It’s a time well worth it. When you get outside to the meditation garden where the Presleys are buried, it makes you wonder who on earth is still sending flowers, for goodness sakes. I’m glad Jenelle warned us to not make any comments while wearing our audio headset. “Who the heck sends flowers to a dead guy?” at full volume would have been pretty embarrassing. (At least she said it was embarrassing upon her trip to Graceland.)
Catherine didn’t get to hear much of the Audio, but our 2 yr old Aislinn can recount most of the story for me. Despite the excellent audio, she still managed to have a meltdown before we made it to the planes. Parents---my best advice is this---take the kid elsewhere when the meltdown begins. It is your fault that they didn’t have a nap, and they’re just tired, dammit. Take them to the car or a quiet place in the shade, give them some water, and just soothe them. Don’t zap all your energy trying to get them to calm down in the museum. Best decision I made. My nice text to Sean was simply, “ Van. NOW.”With the kids crashing out in their car seats before we left Graceland's parking lot, and 1.5 hours to kill before dinner, we decided to cruise around the seedy areas of Memphis looking for those out of the way, classic and true BBQ spots. We went back to Marlowe's Rib House to get a BBQ pork plate. Marlowe's Smoker is located in the middle of the restaurant, wafting smoke and great smells throughout to entire dining room.
Marlowe's has three pit masters that are on shift throgh the entire smiking process. They feel that there should be one person responsible for the meat during the shift, and if they were to bring someone else on during the cooking process, they may screw up the timing on the smoke, and ruin the next days meat for the restaurant. Ducking a head into the smoker reveals a deep hickory smell, with the feint undertones of beech wood. Upon leaving the smoker, the meat is plated and immediately dowsed with a sweet, tangy sauce that its on the counter in a crock pot waiting to be delivered to waiting fans. Upon leaving the bar area with my food in tow, I remember that Diners, Drive Ins and Dives ad bee at this location, and mark off another cross over from our list.With the smell of pork wafting up from the foot well of the van, we decide to hit 2 more spots to get pork plates from each. our idea is to have a taste-off later on that night when the meat starts to dwindle from our pores. So we head off to Payne's BBQ on Elvis Presley Boulevard. As we move along EPB going north, we find that these more authentic regions of Memphis make Catherine nervous for our lives. Along the way to Payne's we notice multiple chimneys of auto repair places, and hair salons that are pouring smoke out of their tops. Wondering if there are smokers in every business in Memphis, our answer comes at the next location that we come to. Payne's fortunately is closed, and I saw this, because it is located in a neighborhood that may have taken our tires, should we have stopped. So we are left with one stop left before we reach out dinner destination.
TOPS BBQ is located all over Memphis, and stretches into Arkansas in West Memphis. As we pull onto Poplar Ave from EPB, we smell the smoke immediately, and we are still 5 blocks away from the restaurant. Parking in the lot behind the restaurant gives us the perfect angle to see the sunlight through the heavy clouds of hickory smoke that is billowing out of the chimney. Walking in the pork plate isn't that expensive (1/2 pound of pork, sauce, beans, slaw and roll for $4.95). Looking at the shoulders that are being cooked the skin is just starting to get that lovely brown look. The lady that is showing me the cooker tells me that there is a line of people that are at the door every day to buy that skin. They use it in mac and cheese, in their beans, and often in potato salad as cracklin's (pork rinds). She also tells me that there has been many a fight for the last batch.After a refreshing nap for both kids in the car, we met the Rush-Leavitt family at the
BBQ Shop on Madison Ave, aka the “home of the Dancing Pigs.” They are known for their BBQ Spaghetti and Ribs. What is this BBQ Spaghetti, you ask? 
It’s pasta with smoked pork shoulder, drizzled in the house BBQ sauce. YUM. This one was well above Interstate’s because the pasta had the BBQ sauce incorporated into the noodle; however, it did leave a bit of a pool of oil on the plate. Dinner was good, but the sauce was pretty heavy in the vinegar arena. 
The day was ended with getting the kids in bed, a taste test between the pork plates from Marlowe’s and Tops BBQ, and then watching Twilight: New Moon.
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