Let us set the scene for you. You're looking for things to do in Tupelo, MS, on the weekend. We'll assume you're an Elvis fan, or at least curious about Elvis. Maybe you've listened to Mojo Nixon a lot and think Elvis is everywhere, and that's especially true in Tupelo. So this is what we'll do. We'll guide you through a weekend trip to Tupelo with as many bad Elvis references as possible. Thank you thank you very much.
Friday afternoon – Arrive at Hilton Garden Inn
It's a heartbreaking hotel…not really. Heck, not at all, but Elvis never sang a song about a branded hotel in a great location. Hilton upholds a high level of brand standards for its price, and Tupelo Hilton Garden Inn It was very clean and tidy.
What we were really excited about was being downtown. We were a short distance from the newly remodeled BancorpSouth Arena (the largest indoor multi-purpose arena in the state of Mississippi) and next to the Tupelo Visitor Center.
If you've never been to downtown Tupelo, you don't know what you're missing. Tupelo is the only city in the southern United States to have been named an All-America City five times. Not just because Elvis guitar track The Elvis tour is self-guided, but because it's full of vibrant and unique local shops that make shopping an adventure, it's a very good part of our next strip…
Late Friday afternoon – Explore downtown Tupelo
If you love boutique shopping, street art and local restaurants and have a passing interest in The King of Rock and Roll, then you Can't help falling in love With downtown Tupelo. We advise you to check out stores such as Caron Gallery Specializes in local Mississippian art and Rowe Furniture Company This pays tribute to Tupelo's history as a furniture manufacturing center by creating handcrafted furniture from reclaimed Mississippi wood. Another store you should stop by is… Tupelo AppliancesWhere Elvis bought his first guitar.
Plan wisely because many of these shops close at 5:30 on weeknights, are only open for a few hours on Saturday morning, and are all closed on Sunday. After the stores closed, a few stops on the Elvis tour were the Lee County Courthouse, where Elvis first sang on the radio in 1946, and the Elvis Homecoming Statue, where Elvis performed in 1956 to a packed crowd at the fairgrounds and was awarded the Key to the City.
Create your own Elvis comfort food tour
You can also take your own Elvis comfort food tour. We'll start with the Crave Coffee Peanut Butter Smash, which is a cold and creamy peanut butter pie with an Oreo crust, topped with a peanut butter crust.
Let's say you're looking for something lighter (just a little). In this case, Bubsy Elvis offers PoPsy, a gourmet lollipop made with peanut butter, banana and honey before dipping it in organic milk chocolate. Of course, there always is Holly pops Peanut Butter Banana Cupcake Bakery. It's a banana-flavored, guitar-shaped cupcake with peanut butter and chocolate drizzle. Basically, mix in some peanut butter, chocolate, and banana, and you've got Elvis comfort food, which works just fine for us.
Friday Night Dinner – Kermit's Outlaw Kitchen
To be fair, Kermit's Outlaw Kitchen It has nothing to do with the Muppets and Green Frogs. It continues to appear on must-eat lists in Mississippi because of the strict adherence to proper home-cooked food. As they say, it's where Mississippi farms meet Mississippi tables.
Anyway, I'm looking for the Elvis link here, Don't ask me why. I was looking for that Puppet on a string /Rainbow connection where Kentucky rain I created A pocket full of rainbowsBut I couldn't do anything. I do I love giving Wood-grilled meats and delicious cocktails, so I think I'll leave it at that.
Saturday morning – Breakfast at Crave Coffee
We're gearing you up for an active Saturday at Crave, a coffee and breakfast shop known for its coffee and pastries. When they asked us what we wanted for breakfast, that was it This is an easy question. We ordered biscuits and gourmet coffee.
Breakfast only comes once a day, so we thought it's snowing Or never. The biscuits were great, and the coffee was spot on.
Saturday Trip / Tanglefoot Trail or Natchez Trail
If you arrive too late on a Friday to explore the city centre, it's perfectly reasonable to do here instead. You can switch the ride on the 45-mile Rails-to-Trails Hall of Fame Tanglefoot Trail For a self-guided Elvis bike tour. Everything is good. You are nothing but a hunting dogCycling all the time.
If you're not a fan of horseback riding or are somehow prevented from indulging in all of Tupelo's great food, you can always go for a drive on Natchez Tracking. It's one of America's great scenic drives, with its headquarters located just outside of Tupelo.
Saturday dinner at Rumi Grocery
They say, put a little bit of the South in your mouth at this former grocery store turned local hangout. I think they are selling themselves short. A trip to Rummy puts a little south in all of the following places: your mouth, your feet, your ears, and most importantly, your soul. “Rhythm is something you either have or you don't have, but when you have it, it's all over.”
Saturday night has Crayfish boil Live music on the patio. “I don't know anything about music. In my line, you don't have to do that.” I didn't realize how much I missed listening to live music until we were sitting on the patio at Rumi eating steak and three course meals.
Sunday brunch at Strange Brew
Strange is an adjective that means unusual or surprising in a way that is difficult to understand. That's how we felt at Strange Brew, an old service station turned café. The important thing to remember about weirdness is that being unusual or surprising can be a very good thing. Their coffee was top notch, and in the King's words: “I would like to be treated like a regular customer.” They made us feel at home and welcome and like we were coming in on a regular basis for our daily cup of joe.
Pilgrimage to Elvis' birthplace
It's all too easy to picture Elvis as either a Las Vegas attraction or a promiscuous boy walking around in Ed Sullivan. However, before the riches of Graceland, Elvis was a poor boy in Tupelo. “Ambition is a V-8 dream,” but it's easy to see how the young Elvis just wanted entertainment.
His birthplace contains a museum, the hand-built shotgun house where he was born, and his childhood church that was moved into the grounds. “The image is one thing and the person is another.” By wandering through these exhibits, you will meet Elvis, the human, not Elvis, the King of Rock and Roll.
Find Sunday brunch in Tupelo
On a weekend getaway to Tupelo, we went to The Grillhouse For Sunday lunch. It was amazing with a dry grade prime ribeye that had been aged for 45 days. However, they have stopped offering lunch service, so you should definitely try it another day.
Johnny's Drive-In It is another Tupelo classic decorated with Elvis memorabilia, including the Elvis table where he ate as a boy. There is, too Forklift, which serves handcrafted, locally sourced Southern cuisine. They call it the “High South,” and we agree. Unfortunately, both of these places are closed on Sunday (Forklift is closed on Monday as well), so they are not a good option for Sunday brunch.
We were big fans Brick and spoonIt is open daily until 2:00 pm. It's a small Southern chain that Travel + Leisure says is one of the top 10 breakfast places in the entire United States. Perfect place to refuel for the ride home. He may not be Elvis Sunday Meatloaf, but he gets the job done.
Wrapping up things to do in Tupelo MS
As you can see, there are plenty of things to do in Tupelo to keep you entertained around the clock, whether you're an Elvis fan or not. It's just a decent sized small town where you can feel at home while eating some delicious food and discovering the rich history. Don't expect everything to be posh and polished, but do expect warm hospitality and Southern warmth. And maybe, try something sweet with bananas and peanut butter, and take a moment to remember that the King of Rock and Roll was born here.
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