WE'VE BEEN TO GRACELAND!

GRACELAND

What a day!  Elvis is as alive today as he ever was.  It's hard to believe that 34 years after his death people are still flocking, and I mean flocking, to his home to pay homage to him. We arrived just after the ticket stands opened at 0830 and bought our tickets for the Platinum Tour which included a tour of Graceland, his two planes, car museum, clothes museum and a couple of other sites.

Graceland is awesome.  You're only allowed to tour the main floor and finished basement as Elvis never took visitors upstairs to his private quarters so out of respect for him they don't allow tours up there.  The house is something to see.  The outside and grounds are unbelievably beautiful and well maintained.  The inside has that look of the 70's . . . shag carpets, eclectic furnishings along with beautiful family portraits and pictures.  The only room that really showed it's age was the kitchen.  Definitely needed some updating.  The main floor had the living room, dining room, his parents' bedroom, kitchen, music room, jungle room (which was something to see).  The downstairs had a media room and pool table room.  From there we went outside and along a sidewalk to Vernon's office then along to the gun range where he and his friends practiced shooting.  Then to the Racquet Ball room which has now been turned into a museum that holds many of his awards and wardrobe items.  There is also another area that holds all his gold and platinum records and is absolutely amazing.  It really makes you realize how fantastic this man was when you see a room so full of these awards.  From there along passed the swimming pool, which was quite nice and over to the Meditation Gardens.  The Meditation Garden was built by Elvis but after his death his father, Vernon, had Elvis and his mother's remains brought back to Graceland and buried there.  Vernon now rests there as well as Elvis' grandmother and a plaque for Elvis' twin brother that died at birth but is buried elsewhere.



ELVIS' GRAVE



 The Meditation Gardens are really beautiful and there is a huge cross with the name Presley on it as well as a beautiful statue of an angel that was a gift to Elvis from his friends on the death of his mother.  It's a really lovely and peaceful spot located just across from the pool area.

Elvis purchased Graceland and it's 13.6 acres from a doctor for just over $100,000 . . .  can't remember the exact price.  The grounds are so beautiful and the feeling as you walk around outside is one of peace and solitude even though the home is on Elvis Presley Boulevard which is a very busy thoroughfare.

From there we crossed the street back to where the planes, car museums and lots of sourvenir shops were located.  We went through it all and stood in line in the heat to see inside the planes.  The big plane, called the Lisa Marie was decked out with sofa's, tv's, and a bedroom with a queen size bed.  The bathroom had a 24 carat sink and the seat belt buckles were 24 carat gold plate.

The small jet was outfitted with regular seats, they just happened to be in yellows and greens.  I think Elvis managed to change everything he bought to colours that he liked.  We saw a beautiful Cadillac that he had purchased in white and had painted a gorgeous royal purple.  The man lived well but was very generous to others.  Apparently his charitable donations to organizations in the Memphis area were incredible.

All in all it was an absolutely fantastic experience.  Something to put on the "bucket list" and definitely something to make sure you cross off of it.  As I said at the beginning of this blog, the fact that someone who has been gone for 34 years can still draw the huge crowds we saw today is totally amazing.  I'm still a fan and today just proved why.  AWESOME!!

Tomorrow we'll be heading down towards Nashville.  It will probably take 2 or 3 days to get there as Cam wants to stop at the Shiloh National Battle Field just outside Shiloh, Tennessee and Stones River National Battlefield just outside of Murfreesboro which is on the outskirts of Nashville.

More adventures to come . . .