The school week can be difficult when you spend the weekend before visiting friends out of state. Well that is exactly what I did along with a few other StepUP students a couple of weekend ago.
A few months ago Augsburg College sent a handful of students along with a few StepUP students down the Mississippi river in canoes with a few guides, teachers, and full class load. Their adventure has previously been covered by StepUP blogs and by multiple different news outlets. They arrived in St. Louis, Missouri this weekend and a few of us decided to drive on down and visit them. The drive only took us 10 hours compared to their over two month journey on the river to St. Louis.
We left early Friday morning and met up late Friday afternoon with the Augsburg river crew at a hostel located in St. Louis, Missouri. We had a member with us that jumped out of the vehicle into the arms of her significant other when arriving. It was well worth the drive to see that moment. We then ate a late lunch with the crew and packed up the truck helping transport a lot of the river crew’s luggage and we were off to Memphis.
We arrived in Memphis late Friday evening with an appetite for barbeque so we headed to Americas most iconic street, Beale Street. There was five of us all part of the StepUP program eating large portions of barbeque and enjoying life.
The next day we started exploring early and filled our day with activities. We started the day at the Peabody hotel and watched a duck master that trains ducks to march down an elevator, along red carpet, and into a fountain. We then headed into the city exploring.
We met up with the rest of the river crew and had a fantastic dinner with the best buffalo wings I have ever had, and others would agree. We sat outside listening to blues eating wings having the time of our lives until we ran out of food unfortunately. After we cleaned our fingers and faces we headed back to the hostel where the river crew was staying.
That night we headed to a part of town that was very similar to Minneapolis’s uptown. It was a very beautiful part of the city filled with places to eat and listen to music. After exploring we chose a spot and danced the evening to a very entertaining local band. A lot of dance moves had been busted before the night was up.
The next morning we woke up earlier than one would expect after a late night of dancing and said our farewells over coffee. Before leaving the city we stopped at the Lorraine Motel where Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated. Afterwards we drove by the Graceland mansion and were on our way back to Minnesota.
It was a quick adventure but we sure did jam pack it with activities. Being the driver I was exhausted the entire following week but realized that years from now I will not remember the exhaustion, but will remember the memories I created with my dear friends that impulsive and great weekend