Kristal and I got into Memphis about 7 o clock yesterday. We crashed in our friend's Sky's parents house, which is ridiculously nice. After eating quesadillas, we decided to just stay in for the night, enjoy the pool, and get ready for our big day tomorrow. Today was the kick off of the annual Elvis Week, and it started with a nice tiny reception in the Medical Hospital in Downtown Memphis. After grabbing some punch, cheese, and cake, we headed downtown for a quick view of things down there. We heard a lot about Beale Street, but were disappointed to see that it is for pedestrians only. We had pre-bought our Graceland tickets and didn't have time to stop in to check out it. But from our brief view, it looks like a good time. From there, we headed down to the famous Graceland Estate, where Elvis's mansion, planes, and cars are.
Kristal and I arrived and we headed straight to his mansion. In my opinion, it's still a pretty awesome house by today's standards, so it must have been something special back then. The house cost 100,000 dollars, and Elvis bought it at the ripe ole age of 22. Certainly makes me feel like I've done a lot in my time lol. The house was decorated quite interestingly. From the dark red kitchen, to the bright green carpeting and roof of his jungle room (that's right I said jungle room) everything was as flashy as Elvis was in real life. We got to see his basement, his pool room, his 8 billion gold and platinum records, and several of the jump suits that he wore on stage for several of his concerts. We also saw several outfits and scenes from his numerous movies. I had no idea that he had starred in so many films (31 in all!). I thought he only had small roles in like 3 or 4. After touring the house, we got to see his grave site, where he is buried next to his parents and grandmother - who oddly enough outlived them all! After the tour of the house, it was time to hit the rest of the grounds.
After grabbing some lunch, our first stop was the car museum. There, we saw just a small slice of Elvis's notoriously bright cars, the top one being his Pink Cadillac, which was his mother's favorite. We also saw a couple of his motorcycles, as well as the car that he drove into Graceland for the last time the day that he died. We then went into "Sincerely Elvis", which was a showcase of all his film work. There it showed brief summaries of several of his films, as well as some funny side stories, like Elvis giving a young co star a white Mustang for her to remember her first film. Kristal then grabbed some souvenirs from the gift shop before we made our final stop, Elvis's airplanes.
Private jets always make me jealous. They are just absurdly nice and compared to coach it is about as big a difference as you can imagine. The plane was full of couches, private bars, and TV's, and was finished by Elvis's own bedroom in the back of the aircraft. This plane was named the Lisa Marie in honor of his only daughter with Priscella. After that, we were given a brief look into his smaller private plane, and that was it for our time with Elvis! After coming home and napping, we went out with Sky's parents to Corky's BBQ, where Kristal and I both got pork sandwiches with fries. Delishhhh. Tonight we are resting up and getting ready for the long haul to Charleston. We both wish we could spend some more time here, but the show must go on, and I'm really excited to see some old friends and familiar places in Charleston. Thanks for reading.
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| Just for fun - Sky's dog Jack! |
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