Look at those DUCKS!!

Memphis, Tennessee... home of Elvis, the Blues, BBQ and BB King... and while those things are all well and good, there's not much else. I recently returned from the National Association of Biology Teachers convention in good ol' Memphis and I must say, I was a bit disappointed. I've been to the south a lot in the past 4 or 5 months and am proud to say that I hold a special little place in my heart for the food, friendly "yes ma'am, no ma'am," the music and the sweet tea, but Memphis was only a little of those amidst A LOT of crack heads! Downtown, where I stayed, was not terrible by any means. I got to enjoy some good (but honestly Mo's in SLO is better) BBQ, see a famous Rockabilly band (The Dempsies - they were in Walk the Line) and enjoyed a lot of walking. There was one highlight, however, which is why this blog is worth writing...

A block from my hotel was the world famous Peabody Hotel in downtown Memphis. A local at the convention let me in on the special story of the Peabody and why I HAD to visit the hotel lobby at 5:00pm. Since the 1920's, the Peabody has been known for its ducks when a couple of duck hunters came back to the hotel from a long (whisky saturated) day of duck hunting. They decided to bring their (then legal) live duck decoys back with them and play a trick on the other guests in the hotel. They gingerly placed the ducks in the lobby's grandiose fountain, hoping that they would inspire shock and awe the next morning. Turns out that guests were delighted and the famous Peabody Ducks have attracted people like me ever since. 

Every morning at 11:00, the Duckmaster, dressed in a dignified red jacket and a duck headed cane, makes his way up to the Peabody's roof where he retrieves the ducks from their lavish Duck Palace. They follow him in a line onto the elevator and ride it down to the lobby floor. The elevator door opens to a red carpet leading from the door to the lobby fountain. After a wave of his cane, the ducks waddle out of the elevator, down the red carpet as hundreds of onlookers flash their cameras and cheer. The ducks climb the step stool next to the fountain then jump in with a little splash and swim inside the lobby fountain until 5:00 pm when they reverse the entire extravaganza.

I left my convention about 30 minutes early on Friday afternoon. I made it to The Peabody lobby just in time to grab a Vodka Collins and nestle into a spot on the floor, right next to the red carpet. 

I was so thrilled with the performance that the ducks delivered that I bought myself a little rubber ducky keychain as a souvenir. She's so pretty with her lipstick red beak and eyelashes. Her boyfriend, a rubber mallard duck keychain (my gift to Daniel) is quite smitten with her :)