April: For a dose of reality, it’s kinda nice to leave the beach, the manicured seaside estates with swaying palm trees, Jupiter’s near perfect winter weather, and make the 1000 mile drive up to funky old Memphis for some needed contrast, and, to see what our old home town is up to.
We were pleased to find our neighborhood booming with cool new developments of renovated old buildings. The old brewery next door has been transformed into luxury apartments and the old train station will soon be an upscale boutique hotel. An eclectic mix of restaurants are popping up everywhere and they appear to be busy. The area is thriving with young folks zipping around on those annoying little electric scooters and the trolley cars are running again. Yep, it seems like Downtown Memphis is finally enjoying a long awaited resurgence.
Springtime brings out the best of Memphis
Springtime means Azaleas and Dogwoods are blooming everywhere you look and the locals are happily leaving their grumpy ways inside as they come out with smiling faces and neighborly attitudes. Everyone has been held hostage by winter’s grip and finally, spring awards them with a deserved respite from the cold, damp, river winds downtown Memphis has endured for months.
April is the month for local festivals before the massive Memphis in May International Festival cranks up and downtown is inundated with hundreds of thousands of tourists. Our local fav is the Crawfish Fest – we can’t seem to find Crawfish in Jupiter or anywhere along the east coast, but in Memphis, in April, they’re everywhere, every weekend.
As we always do we’ve enjoyed our stay, old friends, the authentic funkiness that Memphis has an abundance of, and the excellent food; however, it’s about time to pack up and bid adieu.
It’s time head back to Florida.
There’s a boat trip in our future.
Adios, River City — See y’all in the Fall
