Day 4 - Exotic Meats, and Places without BBQ

Day 4: Memphis Zoo, here we come! We made pancakes in the morning, enjoyed playing inside, and headed out for lunch before hitting the Zoo. We were planning on eating at the “Pig and Whistle,” but it ended up not being there. Apparently having small kids didn’t allow us to think that it might be a good idea to CALL FIRST. Life Lesson # 20 regarding parenting learned on this trip.

We ended up at an awesome little place on Quince St. called


“The Three Little Pigs.” Cute, quaint, offers breakfast, kid-friendly---all good. Good Pork Meal and the kids loved their hot dogs! The sauce was also nice and sweet. Just how we like it.









































The Memphis Zoo is AWESOME. Our theme today, however, ended up being “Poop in the Zoo.” We walked in and headed to the primate area---monkey pooping on the post. Headed over to see the Elephants getting fed their hay---and pooping. (Queue large group “EWWWWW”). Then continuing on to see the Polar Bears and Sea Lions. We went up to the Bear area called “Teton Trek” and saw the two bears playing around their enclosure and…. what do you know?! Poop. We took a break outside in the tree-covered picnic area, watching the kids playing in the fountain and looking for acorns. Good break to the walk. On our way out we went to visit the Pandas! One was outside and moving around quite a bit, eating bamboo. It was excellent to see him so active. They had some Otters in an enclosure with Gibbons in the Panda area, and there was one Gibbon who was quite the instigator of trouble. He’d swing up, around, and over his enclosure, tweek a little otter by the tail, and then take off. The poor little things finally got fed up and headed into the Gibbon-free water. I had a feeling that this scene happens multiple times a day. Did I mention that the Panda pooped? Listen. Everybody poops, ok? Just don’t always mention it to the 2-yr old. “Aislinn, what did you see at the Zoo today?” “Mommy…did da Elefant poopied!? HEE HEE HEE.”












We then met up with Bradley at Charlie Vergos Rendezvous in downtown Memphis on 2nd Ave. Nice. The entrance is under their smoker exhaust in the Alley.



Not exactly stroller friendly—we had to carry ours downstairs since 3 of our 4 kids were sleeping. We headed in and after some confusion got to our table. It was the end of the day at the Zoo…give us a break. We’re really nice people. Anyway, our waiter Jack saved us all. He was an older gentleman who looked like he was a Blues guitar player—cool, and could hardly understand him. “Don’t order anything fried ‘caus we don’t have it. Beans and Slaw—that’s it.” Ok, we get it! Ribs all around, Cheese and Sausage plate for a starter—sausage, cheese, salami, and smoked ham sprinkled with the rub—MMM. Chicken-Rib combo for the kids. Good all around. No Wet-rib ordering---they’ll kick you out. With these Ribs, however, you don’t even need sauce. They were moist and delicious. I have given up Pop for Sweet Tea, which is lovely with some good meat. It’s nothing special---probably Lipton with Sweet and Low. But iced, with lemon—it’s a nice addition to the BBQ meal. After dinner, we headed through the bustling downtown Memphis, past the Autozone Park—home of the Memphis Redbirds (feeder to St. Louis Cards) and FedEx center (basketball!) and back to Cordova-Appling, TN. Home of the Leavitts. The kids were all asleep by the time we got home, and we were thankfully able to get them to sleep with little trouble. Ehren is still in his day clothes. No, it doesn’t make me a bad parent. I just have to watch him tonight in case Sean sleepwalks towards the Smokey smell in our room.