Wednesday, Sept. 26

Slept late this morning, until nearly 8 a.m. After a breakfast of blueberry muffins and fresh fruit, we got ready to tour a couple of places in the Memphis area.

Good thing we had all day to goof off, because it took too forevers to find the Wolfchase Galleria at Germantown. We knew what road we needed to take, but there were no signs to indicate the intersections. Finally had to stop at a gas station to get directions. An insurance agent getting gas there, pointed us in the right direction. We weren't far off the mark, but did have to backtrack a little way.

We found the correct road, but then couldn't see any numbers on buildings to tell us how close we were. Again, we stopped at a gas station. Here, another man was very helpful. He commented that he'd once been a UPS driver, and when he first began his job, he thought he'd never learn the territory, because of the lack of signs and numbers. Altogethr, it was a long drive, and took over an hour to get there.

The mall is huge, anchored by Macy's at one end, and Dillard's at the other end. We got our exercise walking the length of it. Stopped in lots of stores, but I found nothing I wanted. The one interesing thing I noticed, was a stroller with two curly-headed twins. The dark-haired girls were asleep, each with her head turned in the same direction.

We opted for lunch at the food court, where we shared a Philly cheese wrap. I'd never eaten one, and while Hubbie seemed to like it, I don't think I'll need another one.

One thing I noticed about the mall is how active and noisy it is. In the food court alone, there were no fewer than six large screen TVs surrounding the court, on which various musical artists were featured. Those along with the neon signs advertising the five fast-food vendors along one side, was information overload. Not a relaxing atmosphere for enjoying a meal.

An interesting feature of the mall is a full-size carousel housed in an atrium area. We opted out of riding it, however.

From the mall, we attempted to travel the same way we'd come, but encountered a traffic jam on the highway. Don't know what had traffic stalled, but Hubbie decided to take an off-ramp to get out of it. We meandered all over Memphis before we came upon a street he recognized that took us to the botanical garden.

Spent the rest of the afternoon strolling the paved paths through the gardens. There's not a lot in bloom this time of year, but the rose garden is still beautiful, and the herb garden is lush. A Japanese serenity garden is featured, that includes a bright red bridge that crosses a lake of koi fish.

There's also a children's garden of whimsy in which full-size furniture is filled with plants...bedsteads, bathtubs, sinks, etc. It's set up to look like rooms of furniture. A full-size "tree house" is featured, too...a house on stilts built around a large tree trunk.

The weather was very pleasant for touring the gardens. We spent a couple of hours there, because the area is so large.

A farmer's market was set up on a parking lot of the garden visitor's center today. Here, we bought tomatoes, peaches, and a small loaf of honey pecan bread, before heading back to the camper.

It was nearly 5 p.m. by the time we got back. For supper, I fixed microwave baked potatoes, which I overbaked a little. We topped them with chili and cheese. The sour cream I'd brought along was ruined, thanks to having frozen yesterday and thawed today.

After supper, we went to the casino. This time, I remembered to take along my license, so I got a free $20 card to use in the slot machines. We spent about an hour playing on the casino's dime, and came away with $31 of $40 we'd been given. So we've got enough to make another night of it tomorrow.

Back at camp, we were pooped after our very active day, and it wasn't long before we welcomed our bed.