Hey guys! I'm back! And I have a huge picture heavy post for you with highlights from our trip to Graceland in Memphis Tenneesee. It was so much fun and really, really interesting. I'm not an obsessive over the top Elvis fanatic (cool if you are!) but I do love me some Elvis. 1968 Comeback Elvis to be exact. Black Leather Elvis. I really loved the historical aspects of Graceland and how the house is just frozen in time with all of it's seventies decor and extravagance. I really thought at one moment Elvis would come around the corner. He said the worst thing to be was boring. Elvis accomplished that.
We camped at the Graceland RV Park campground and it was very clean, nice and easy to find. The campers next door to us didn't know how to keep it down after midnight (actually 10pm was the start of quiet time) and ended up partying one night until 5am. I'm all about good times but 5am is ridiculous. So needless to say we were glad we brought our earplugs. I was fighting a cold so my ears were clogged anyway! Lol.
We got ipads that would be our tour guide for the day. I loved the ipad and my headphones. I got to rewind if I needed to hear it again. I had a head cold so I turned those babies up to the max. I would tend to get obsessed about one thing and miss all the other stuff so it was nice to be able to rewind. Plus there were a lot of home photos or videos on each page. Here is a picture of Elvis right about where I took the first photo.
When you walk in you can see the stairwell up to the second floor. But you can't go up! Argh! I so wished I could. It was a bummer but there's nothing you can do about it. I did google "second floor Graceland" as soon as I could and got satisfied with the second hand drippings from the internet. Meh. Sure would love to go up there. On the recorded tour Lisa Marie was talking about how she could hear her dad coming down these stairs to open the door for one of the hundreds of friends that would stop by with all of his jewelry clanging together. It wasn't his footsteps that she heard but his jewelry. Stay classy Elvis. Stay classy.
The living room was the first room we got to see. It was the prettiest in my opinion. This was my favorite room by far. My friend Kim and I love the peacocks on the stained glass. The music room is beyond the glass. The couch is SUPER long! 15 feet I think?
The dining room is on the opposite side of the front entrance. There are a few photos on google where the whole place looked like it was
spray painted candy apple red. Evidently that's when his girlfriend at the time, Linda Thompson, got a hold of it and redecorated it. I'm so glad Priscilla took it back to the original style.
Next up was the kitchen! It was dark and very seventies. Lisa Marie gives some great commentary on the kitchen. She says something was always being fixed because the steady amount of people coming through. Elvis had his breakfast closer to 4:00 pm because he liked staying up at night and sleeping during the day. My imagination was kicking into high gear and I was picturing a ton of Elvis' friends and his cook in the kitchen just having a blast. I was so surprised that the kitchen looked so normal. Like anyone's kitchen from the seventies. I mean - look at that wood paneling!
Speaking of having a blast, who could not have a blast in the in the Jungle Room?
Green shag carpet EVERYWHERE! Awesome. I love how Elvis just took it to the max any way he wanted to. I like this green carpet he says. Put it everywhere he says. I like jewelry. Give me 5 more necklaces to wear and 10 rings. Extreme!
So they used the Jungle Room as a recording studio later on in Elvis' life. It seems he was a little to ill to travel so they just recorded there. I mean it was covered in carpet so the acoustics were great. Lisa Marie's favorite chair was the big round one.
Jungle room selfie OF COURSE! At the bottom of the stairwell was just the most basic wood paneling simple little hallway. It reminded me of the bottom of the stairs at my grandparents house. It was the craziest thing. Like, did they just skip the hallway when they were redecorating? But it made it so....normal. Again with the normal. I mean this was Elvis. The King of Rock and Roll, but he was also just living at his home. Really living here.
Next up the TV Room! Three tv's and a creepy monkey. I tried researching what was up with the monkey. I know that Elvis had a major voice in how Graceland was decorated and didn't like anyone telling him no. Anything he wanted he got. Graceland has a lot of crazy little kitchy things. There's a fireplace around to the left and a bar to the right with crazy bright yellow bar stools. Elvis loved color. The tour guide on the ipad is John Stamos. Hee hee. John was telling us that Elvis loved television. Had a tv everywhere. He just couldn't get enough.
Across the hall was the game room. Beautifully draped in fabric from floor to ceiling.
Outside in the back yard...
Vernon's office is out back and I don't know why I didn't snap any pictures. The horses and the stables are outside and it was a gorgeous day to see it all.
We walked through the Trophy Room next and it was amazing to see all of the gold records! Sheesh!
My personal favorite, 1968 Comeback Elvis!
After we left the Trophy Room we went back outside and across the yard to the Racquetball Court. I had no idea Elvis was such a fan. Yet again, this room was crammed floor to ceiling with awards, records, accomplishments and suits.
The house tour wrapped up with the family graves in the backyard. Everyone was super quiet. It was eerie and sad.
Back on the other side of the street we took a look at Elvis' planes; The Lisa Marie and The Hound Dog. The Lisa Marie, Elvis said, was his Graceland in the sky.
Question: Do you think you could sleep in a bed on an airplane? Buckled in?
The Hound Dog was the smaller of the two and used for quick trips.
There was a cute retro diner too. Rockabilly Cafe I think it was called. It was adorable!
I really, really loved touring Graceland. It fueled all my vintage flames. Elvis was such an American icon and it is spectacular to check this off of my bucket list! Elvis fan but his life, his clothing choices, his obsessive fans (like when he was kidnapped in an elevator for an hour) his daily routine (like waking up every day at 4:00pm) is so interesting. If you've got Amazon Prime you should watch the documentary
This is Elvis. Or read
this book. The photo on the front is drool worthy enough to just stare at it for days even if you never crack it open. If you do, there are tons more photos like it inside.
We had dinner at the Rock n' Roll Cafe where an Elvis impersonator entertained us. It was exactly what you think it was. Kitschy, cheesy, and obligatory. The guy seemed pretty dedicated to it. He wasn't the best but he sure wasn't the worst either.
I was surprised there was only one impersonator. I guess the enchantment of Elvis and Graceland has died down over the decade??. I am just assuming. Maybe it hasn't. The town and streets around Graceland isn't what you would call a "nice" part of town. It's a little run down. It's a bit sad. I hope the legend of Elvis doesn't completely wear off for generations to come. He was such an innovator and pioneer for music and entertainment.
We hit up the Beale Street Music Festival while we were there. Tons of great bands playing on the banks of the Mississippi River. It was a hot one. Shoooweee. Then as the sun went down it got super chilly. It was the craziest weather! Sunburn at noon and frostbite at midnight.
I took my first Uber ride to the festival! Weeeee! I'm totally obsessed with Uber now!
The time when I didn't get my camera out quick enough to get a picture of the river boat that just went by. Darn! At least I got to check off seeing the Mighty Mississip' off my bucket list.
The food was carnival food. I was hoping for a bit more custom food trucks. We did find one Indian cuisine food truck and ate at it twice! The second time we went they basically gave us all the stuff they didn't sell. I welcomed it. It was homemade and good.
Everyone was stopping to take pics of this massive meat display. My hubs had to get in on that action. We got a hot dog from them and thought...this is a little too much! LOL
And the real reason for the festival...THE BLEACHERS! Specifically Jack Antoff. I was so glad I got to see them live. There were so many headliners. We had to choose who we wanted to see and at what time so that caused us to miss Band of Horses on the other stage. Only my #1 favorite band. I chose to see The Bleachers instead because I've seen BOH play twice now and have never seen The Bleachers live. We did get to see the second half of Avett Brothers when we wrapped up here. They had the Mayweather fight on a tv at an outside bar that was very close to Avett. We got to keep up with the fight and watch the show too. We got to watch all the people with special bracelets on get super cool access to that outside bar. Ahhh....#Iamnotcoolenough
Jack in his sleeveless shirt!
Tell Lena I said hey!
Have you been to Graceland, or as EP would say, Graclin? Been to Memphis?
