Road Tripping 2022

Friends and Family II: Philadelphia Flower Show & Memphis

The Philadelphia Flower Show started in 1829 and is the oldest and longest running flower show in the world, and remains the biggest in the US (the largest in the world is the Hampton Court Garden Festival in Surrey, England in the first week of July. The “most famous” is the Chelsea Flower Show which officially took root in 1913)

My three sisters have made an annual pilgrimage to the Philadelphia Flower Show for many years (starting with Suz when my nephew was a Freshman at Temple – then expanded to all of us). This was the third time I joined them. 

Normally, the Flower Show is presented at the Philadelphia Convention Center in March. In 2021, due to COVID, they moved it to June, taking over part of the 348-acre FDR Park to allow fresh air to keep the visitor numbers up without becoming a super-spreader event. 2021 had some hiccups (I attended) – almost all of which they fixed for 2022. Suzan found the best way to get tickets is to be a member of The Pennsylvania Horticultural Society for $250/year– you get 4 tickets and access to the “preview” on Friday which is much less crowded. We’ve found that the last 2 hours of the preview day is a great time to return to your favorite displays and get more photos. We stayed from open to close. 

The 2022 theme was “In Full Bloom” and summer busted out all over. You entered and walked under a grand flower covered archway, past the pond – highlighting the design (and designers) of the original park – the sons of Frederick Law Olmsted who designed Central Park.

The competitors used the extra room to full advantage, creating backyard oases for every style and budget. 

And even some ideas for those lacking in space and resources. 

We stayed in a lovely row house on the south side of Philadelphia. And though most of the brief 2 nights was focused on the Flower Show, the sisters and I love to eat. We have found some less than stellar places (we went to a Thai place last year that instead of bringing me Thai coffee brought me a cup of soy sauce with sweetened condensed milk – several people in the group didn’t believe me and had to try it). We had much better success this year, coming across an amazing Mexican Restaurant called La Llorona – which specializes in Oaxacan regional cuisine. We loved it so much the first night – we went back again the second night, bringing along nephew Sean and his girlfriend Hanna. I tried many foods I’d never heard of such as a Tlayuda – a large crispy tortilla covered with black beans, Oaxacan cheese, and you can add meat or huitlacoche (an interesting fungus that tastes like roasted corn) – all covered with their house special avocado cream – I would recommend getting them to pour that avocado cream on anything and everything. 

Unfortunately, the visit was brief and I needed to head back home – but I had to make one more stop long the way. 

Two days from Philly and only one day home – Memphis!

After visiting Tupelo, the birthplace of Elvis, and Nashville, the Home of Country Music, I had to make a stop where both The Blues AND Rock N Roll originated. 

The city is the largest that sits along the Mississippi and provides one of the main bridges over the majestic river. Its natural elevation led early settlements to be highly contested between the French, Spanish and English. The permanent city of Memphis was officially established in 1819 by Andrew Jackson, James Winchester and John Overton. It grew and thrived even after the Civil War as a center for lumber and cotton. It became a central hub of the Civil Rights Movement, and in its saddest moment was the city where Martin Luther King, Jr was assassinated. 

In modern day, Memphis Airport is the busiest cargo airport in the world, and is the hub city for FedEx. The National Civil Rights Museum, part of The Smithsonian, hosts tens of thousands of visitors per year (I was there on a Sunday night and had to leave early Monday, so wasn’t able to visit).

But it is music that brought me to Memphis. And downtown Beale Street is dedicated to music and the Performers.

It’s grittier than Nashville. The music venues are less polished but more fun. They keep the music and the beer flowing all day, but the area really comes alive when the sun goes down. 

Next stop – home!

The run down:

Miles driven: 3,153, across 10 states

Gallons of gas: 92.214

Avg mileage: 34.2 (There is a gas sensor glitch in my car too expensive to fix, so likely caused a lower MPG than expected for my little car).

Cost of gas: $394.34

Average price per gallon: $4.28

Cheapest gas: $4.04 (with Kroger discount just before departure); most expensive – $5.17 – about an hour out of Philadelphia