Day 4 - Graceland, Memphis

This is the day Carmen has been waiting for on this trip: visiting Graceland.  But first thing this morning, it was raining.  However, by around 10:30 am, when we headed out to see Graceland the rain had eased up. 

We bought our tickets, across the street from Graceland, and took one of their shuttles up to the house.  Here’s Carmen in front of Elvis’ house.  Visiting here is very exciting for her and has been one of the items on her “bucket” list.

When we begin our tour, one of the first rooms we saw was the living room and Piano room.  I thought one of the nicest things about the room was the two peacock stained glass panels between the two rooms.

The formal dining room.

The entertainment room.

The billiard room.

The Jungle Room.  I’ve always want to see this room since hearing Marc Cohn’s song “Walking in Memphis”.  And I’m “Waiting for the King down in the Jungle room”.  Well I’m here, but no ghost of Elvis.  On with the tour of the house.

We leave the house portion of the tour and are now on our way to the barn and other buildings.  Glad that it has stopped raining.  Here is a view of the back yard and the house. 

The barn and out buildings contained offices, studios, and his many awards.  There are so many gold and platinum records it is hard to count them all.  Some like this are special awards.  This one is for selling 5 million records of “Don’t be Cruel”. 

Here are some of the many record breaking awards earned by Elvis throughout the year.  Also along the walls are some of the clothes he wore either during a performance or in an movie.

There were many of the outfits he wore on stage and also in the movies.  This one he wore for his tour during his sold out concerts in 1970 which ended in Las Vegas.

Carmen was, still is, a big fan of Elvis, and coming here, like many Elvis fans, was one of the things she wanted to do.  The tour takes us around the property, including here.  She looks a little sad here standing in front of Elvis’ grave. 

On the property, the Elvis foundation, buys and keeps abused horses.  A couple of them were in this pasture.

Leaving Graceland, we were back across the street where there is a museum.  Inside in the museum are some of the cars he owned, a Rolls Royce, Continental, and other cars including this 1971 Stutz Blackhawk. 

We also purchased the extra ticket to go into and view the jets, including the Lisa Marie.  This is the dining room in one of the jets.  

In the other jet, the seating is spacious and plush,  now this is the way to fly – no more flying coach.

And now we leave Graceland, the tour of the house and property was great and I finally got to see the Jungle room.  We could have stayed longer looking at each of the records on the walls and Elvis' clothes as well as Lisa Marie's wedding gown, but everything must end and tomorrow we begin traveling west towards New Mexico.  If you are an Elvis fan or not, I think this was a great tour and would recommend it to anyone, fan or not.  Our plan is to drive through to New Mexico all at once, we'll see how that works out.