Elvis Presley is an American Icon. He ranks right up there with apple pie &
baseball on the list of what defines “America”. I am not a big Elvis fan though I don’t hate
his music. If I were to pick a song of
his to be my favorite it would be “Hound Dog” solely because my high school
mascot was the Houn Dawg. I felt it
necessary to add a trip to Graceland to my bucket list because it is an
American landmark and not too far away from home. My dad has jokingly described Graceland as high-end trailor home.
I went into the visit with an open mind and was pleasantly surprised at the
how much I enjoyed the experience. In
the words of Mr. Presley….we headed to Memphis to TCB and visit Graceland!
1. Start a blog
2. Go to the Presidential Inauguration / visit DC
5. Eating a raw oyster
7. Cook a traditional Thanksgiving dinner by myself
8. Shoot a gun/target shooting
9. Go Mushroom hunting
10. Learn to sew / make something I can wear
12. Drive 100 mph on the German Autobahn (NEW)
13. Learn to play craps
14. Eat at Oklahoma Joe's BBQ
17. Learn to make a pie from scratch
18. Make Grandma's kolache cookies correctly
20. Drink a beer the size of my head at Hofbrauhaus Munich (NEW)
21. Do at least one pull-up
22. Visit Graceland
23. Take a train ride/ weekend trip to Herman, Mo.
25. Run a 8 min/mile 5K
26. Take ballet class from the KC Ballet
28. Visit the castle that inspired Walt Disney (NEW)
30. See the Eiffel Tour sparkle (NEW)
(I made a few changes to the bucket list post our European tour. I knew we would do things I would want to add and they definitely needed to have there own number on the list. Some may think it is cheating but I would have replaced them anyway plus it's my list!)
We departed Nashville on Sunday, April 21 and headed to
Memphis. The usual gang was along for
the ride (i.e Mr. & Mrs. Renaud). We
ran into a slight detour when traffic completely stopped on the interstate
apparently due to a car accident. We
detoured through rural Tennessee, which turned out to be quite enjoyable.
Graceland is a tourist trap.
It is very easy to see how Elvis continues to make money post death,
once you get into the area of Graceland everything is Elvis. We had to park and purchase tickets before we
could start the tour. The cheapest
ticket was $30! I am not sure why I was
so shocked since people will pay any price for a tourist attraction. I didn’t anticipate it would cost $60+ to
tour a house! We had to wait a little
for our tour to start so we perused the gift shop. It had everything you could ever ask for with
Elvis of it! Again, I am not sure why I
am so shocked as it should be expected.
We had to wait in line for about 30 minutes for a bus to
take us over to the house. The bus is
the only mode of transportation and it moves really really slow. If you can imagine the average age of the
person visiting Graceland, it adds more time….
Included in the $30 ticket price is the audio tour. Everyone gets a Walkman style headset that
has been worm by a million other Elvis fan.
I was a little apprehensive of the cleanliness of the headphones but
decided to let it go and live in the moment.
We arrived at Graceland at the main entrance. Our group received a short introduction by
the doorman and we were set loose into the house. The inside of the house was definitely
smaller than I was expecting. That could
be partly due to the large number of people in the house. The audio tour guides you through each room
and informs you of fun facts about each room.
Each room is more overdone than the last. It is
no secret that Elvis was known for being over the top. The carpet on the walls and mirrors on the
ceiling were a true representation of that! It was neat to learn that he moved
his mom & dad into the house and also how close they were to him. I am sure everyone else who has visited
Graceland is with me in that I want to see the upstairs; mainly because it was
off-limits and the mystery of it intrigues me!
We finished the tour at the family burial site. The site was very eerie with the Elvis music
softly playing in the background but also very peaceful. Elvis was remarkable person whose life
tragically ended. Graceland, like his
life, is excessive and over the top. It
is easy to judge his life but hard to imagine what it was like to have the type
of fame he had. Airplanes, mirrored
ceilings, drugs, all at his fingertips.
Who wouldn’t go overboard…?
Here are the pictures from our Graceland experience...
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| I love this dress, total bummer I left it in Munich Germany :( |
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| Luckily we picked a good day to tour. There was no line. |
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| My husband is so funny....looking :) |
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| The second attempt did not go any better |
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| 1980's headphone...check! Ready to tour Graceland |
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| The main entrance. The house was a lot smaller than I had expected. |
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| The living room |
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| Me in the living room. Elvis loved looking at himself, mirrors were everywhere! |
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| Such beautiful bathroom wallpaper |
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| The kitchen was not as fancy as I expected either. Though I am such it was up to date for the time. |
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| More mirrors, this time down the stairs. It was wicked. |
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| Josh doing his best monkey status impression |
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| And again, more mirrors. This time on the ceiling. |
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| Crazy pool room. The ceiling and wall have the same fabric. |
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| Carpet on the walls? Only Elvis. |
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| Elvis' horses and backyard. |
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| The view from the back. |
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| The beginning of all of the awards |
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| More gold/platinum albums |
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| The pool |
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| More awards |
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| Elvis....RIP |
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| A lovely photo post tour |
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| Dayday and Joshie |
We all walked away from the tour very satisfied. The tour was definitely worth the $30 ticket though I don’t think we’d ever spend any more. I also don’t know if there is a need to go back. Graceland should never change. I am glad we were able to experience a little of Elvis’ life but one time is enough. I definitely recommend everyone visit Graceland. It is a must see American landmark and should be on everyone’ s bucket list!
We had the rest of the day to enjoy Memphis so we headed downtown to catch a game of the Memphis Redbirds. Turns out they were playing the Iowa Cubs, what a coincidence! The temperature was really cold in the shade and super warm in the sun. We enjoyed the game for a few innings in our seats and spend some time exploring the park. It was Bark at the Park so we also got to see some puppies!
Later that night we ventured out to experience Beale Street and Memphis BBQ. We made a quick stop to meet up with my good friend Lara and her adorable baby Alex.
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| We stopped in at PIG for some ribs |
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| Silly Joshie |
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| It was delicious! |
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| Last stop was at Rum Boogie Cafe for a drink and some blues |
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| My adorable cat flats from Urban Outfitters |
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| My cat flats killed my heels. Good thing they were super cute and on sale. |
Until next time.....
XOXO,
Abby
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