Graceland

Above: The bridge we went over to get into Memphis from the Arkansas side

We decided to drive from Shreveport, Lousiana, to Memphis, Tennessee, yesterday despite the weather forecasts of severe rain, flooding, and thunderstorms.  The weather was great until Little Rock, Arkansas, and then the driving rain accompanied us right through to Memphis, where the lightning started flashing about every 30 seconds.  So we arrived here in style anyway!

We are staying right across the road from Graceland.  It has really nice grounds at the back of the RV park for the dogs to have interesting walks in.  The weather was supposed to be crappy all weekend with flood warnings and thunderstorm advisories, but the sun was shining this morning and it was a pleasant 15 degrees C. all day (although one of the salesclerks at a souvenir shop we patronized said, "Once we get over this cold snap, we'll get some heat.")  Tomorrow is supposed to be pure sun and 20 degrees C.

Honestly not a huge crazy Elvis fan, but I'd have to say it was interesting going on the mid-priced Graceland tour for $36.00.  We toured the house and grounds, which included some outbuildings with a lot of relics from Elvis' life, including clothes, cars, jets, all of his gold records and grammies, etc. 

There are a lot of gift shops and souvenir stores on the Plaza.  After we went through the car museum, we were fed into one of them.  It was tightly packed with merchandise of all descriptions.  I wandered over to look at the T-shirts when a clink-clink of a falling cup sounded, followed by a very impressive cascading crashing sound as about a dozen black Elvis coffee cups hit the tile floor and smashed into myriad pieces.  The people closest to the catastrophe stood there trying to look innocent.  I'm not sure whether they actually caused the crash or not, but it was really spectacular and the great thing was that I was not involved in any way!

We also visited the Sirius Radio Elvis station broadcast booth on the Plaza across from Graceland and met George Klein.  For those who are not listening to the Elvis station on Sirius, George is one of the Memphis Mafia who hung out with Elvis in the good years, and he can frequently be heard recanting personal tales from a bottomless tickle trunk full of Elvis memories.  We even got him to sign our copy of his book of memoirs, "Elvis, My Best Man."  Here are some pix from Graceland:

Above:  Black and yellow downstairs room.  All the rooms in the house are a bit on the small side to get good pix

Above: Living room to right as you enter through front doors

Above: Arriving at front of Graceland

Above: The wall that separates the street from Graceland, covered and recovered with notes from fans

Above: The pool area and back patio

Above: Graceland at dusk