Flat Stanley goes to Memphis with us

We took Flat Stanley to Memphis yesterday to see the sights and to get a dozen bagels from City Bagel East.

Here he is supervising the selection of bagels.

We left City Bagel East about 10:40 a.m. with a Garmin-projected ETA at Boscos for 10:59. We finally got there about 12:30 p.m. thanks to the enormous traffic snarl created by 18,000 runners, walkers, limpers and gimpers in the St. Jude Children’s Hospital Marathon.

Cops were letting traffic cross the marathon route only when there was a substantial gap between participants. Considering that the vast majority of participants were non-competitive and had absolutely no chance of winning anything and maybe not even finishing, it would have made more sense to have them jog in place while the traffic signals cycled. After being stuck in a miles-long three-lane backup of traffic for more than a half-hour, I turned more cynical than usual and started resenting these self-indulgent people in Spandex who should have done everybody a big favor by donating their entry fee and staying home.

To make matters worse, by the time we got to Boscos and were seated, we found ourselves surrounded by tables full of these people, noisily congratulating themselves on their heroic achievements. Fortunately, our server was able to move us to a much quieter space where we could enjoy our lunch in peace.

I had a mug of Boscos own porter, which Maria sampled and didn’t much care for.

Maria got a shot of Flat Stanley and the Memphis Pyramid on the way out of town.

The dogs were happy to see us when we got home.