We drove straight from Nashville to Graceland. The rain continued throughout the drive as well as the whole time we were in Memphis. In fact, while waiting in line at Graceland we were surprised by a HUGE boom that sounded like lightening hitting the roof of the building!
Anyway, the way they have things set up at Graceland is kind of odd. The main building, parking and extra exhibits are on one side of the street, and Elvis' house is on the other. They give you a timed ticket to line up for a shuttle that brings you literally across the street. I'm sure it's their way of keeping the groups small and spreading people out. It was amazing how many people were there on a random Monday in the off-season.
Once we got our ticket and knew what time to get in line, we went around to the extra exhibits while we waited. Some of Elvis' costumes: They all wore fancy outfits back then, but I think Elvis' were even more outlandish than most.
They had two of his airplanes on display. This one is named the "Lisa Marie"
The famous gold sink
The living room area, and there was also a bedroom with a seatbelt on the bed!
Elvis' Automobile Museum
The famous Pink Cadillac Elvis bought for his mother
This purple car was my favorite.
When we finally got in line for our shuttle, they gave us all IPads with headphones. This turned out to be a really neat way of doing the tour. Everyone was on their own and you could wander around and go at your own pace. It was John Stamos' voice narrating. You walked from room to room, and there were icons on the screen you could press to hear more about some object in the room or see it up closer.
Most people say the same thing when they see Graceland. It's not a mansion. It's just a house. When he first built it, it was on a big piece of land and was isolated. A neighborhood has grown up around it now. In this day and age of "McMansions" it's a very unassuming size house - although in its day, it was quite big.
It was decorated quite beautifully......his formal living room.
Bedroom for his mother. Elvis' first priority was to take care of his mother once he made it big.
Dining room. One of things that impressed me about this visit was that, despite everything, Elvis was a family man. He loved having family and friends sitting around the dinner table.
Kitchen - looks like any kitchen you'd see in a regular house today
His "family room" with his record collection and his TVs
He had three TVs because he wanted to keep track of everything that was going on.
His game room - the walls are covered with fabric.
The famous Jungle Room - mostly because the furniture was all hand-carved with animals
Waterfall wall
His father's office
Then they had areas with all of his gold records, awards, trophies, etc.
Another area dedicated to his movies and also this exhibit of his wedding suit.
More awards and outfits
In the back is the memorial to his family.
The graves of Elvis, his parents, his brother and his grandmother are out back.
Tag loved this display......60 years of Rock n Roll indeed!
Next: the rest of our time in Memphis
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