I'm all shook up - uh huh, eeww eeww, yea yea

Mom, my aunt & myself went to Memphis over the weekend to visit Elvis. None of us had ever been there before so we had no idea what to expect.

We left Friday afternoon & it took about 8 hours to get there with stops, etc. We stayed at a Holiday Inn we reserved through mom's time share. And I normally think of Holiday Inn's as o.k. places to stay. This one? Not so much...

They were doing construction. This was the floor in front of our room. When we got there at 9:30 (their time...), the room looked like it hadn't been cleaned yet. There was an open soap bar in the bath room & a wadded up kleenex on the desk. Gag. The first thing you smelled when you walked in was smoke. And mom asks me (very curtly, I might add...), "Did you not specify a NON-smoking room?!" "Uhm, I think I did...I don't remember...) So mom was NOT a happy camper. I went to the desk & he said he'd send someone up. Mom still wasn't happy & wanted a new room. But they wouldn't give us another room because they were booked full. Uh oh. They cleaned the bathroom (kinda) & changed all the bedding.
And through my 8 hour driving exhaustion fog, I realized, "Oh crap I gotta take pics for the blog!" Mom said, "RCI WILL be hearing about this!" (Rci is her time share place...)
I love it when she plays along...

These people were in the housekeeping department. And they couldn't hardly speak English.

We'd had quite a day already & the nasty, God forsaken room didn't help our moods. So we went right to bed. The next day we travelled back downtown to get breakfast at Denny's.

Mom & my Aunt Mary! If you can't see the resemblance, they are sisters...

Ok- I took around 430 pictures while we were gone. You don't EVEN know how hard it was for me to narrow it down to the ones to put in the blog.

Before you go to the mansion, they give you these headphone thingies & a little controller to listen to information from the narrator & even Priscilla & Lisa Marie while you're touring the grounds.

The narrator takes you step by step through the house & grounds. But there's also plaques around if you get off track, you enter the number & push play & it tells you about the stuff you're looking at.

I was never so happy to have my new fancy schmancy camera! Obviously you can't use your flash inside the house. But my camera took great pics! I've decided that next time I plan to take pics for 8 hours, I need to do weight conditioning first. My freakin' arm, wrist & elbow were killin' me last night!It was neat to see all the personal messages & names written on the wall surrounding the property. There wasn't any space that didn't have writing. Yee haw! We're in front of the house! I'll try not to bore you with the details. The pics say everything themselves. But when you walk in, it's like stepping back into the 70's. It even smells musty. This is the living room.
No one is allowed upstairs out of respect for Elvis. But ya'll know I had to try to get some good pics of what I could see.

There are mirrors all over the place!

Of course I had to get a few pics of myself. Ya know, to prove I was there for prosperity & all...

The dining room.

I'm a big Priscilla fan. What an interesting life she has led. Imagine being married to Elvis?

The kitchen is just the way it was the last time Elvis re-decorated back in the mid 70's.

This is the lounge in the basement. BRIGHT blue & yellow. It had 3 tvs & a stero with some of Elvis' records.Across the hall is the pool room.

The walls & ceiling are covered in fabric.

This is the jungle room. Elvis had it built onto the house.

Big, gawdy furniture & fake fur on the sofas & chairs.

There we are looking at the jungle room. I'm the one behind the big lense.Next stop was the racquetball building. Elvis loved playing it so he built a whole building for it. It had a weight bench, pinball machine, bar & this lounge area. The dude talking to us through the headset told us that on the morning he died, Elvis sat at this very piano & played music & sang with friends. Sad... The main racquetball court has been transformed into a display case for SOME of his records, costumes, etc. Even the flag he got at his funeral is there. Who doesn't recognize this costume?!This is Lisa Marie's swing set.

Elvis' dad, Vernon's, office. One of the workers told us that Priscilla was so lonely that she'd go talk to the secretaries for hours. So much so that they weren't getting their work done. This did not go over well, so Vernon put this sign on the door. Vernon's office.Another building on the mansion property is the trophy room. It had newpaper clippings & like 5 tv's showing him on various tv shows. These are 2 of his 3 grammy's.Both walls were lined with the gold & platinum records.This was one of my favorite displays. It had their actual wedding clothes & things from Lisa Marie's room.Elvis built a meditation garden to sit & reflect. After he died, his father moved his & his mothers graves there for security reasons.

Another cool thing I read? Any & all gifts that fans send to Graceland are used at the meditation garden. If there are live flowers, they are placed in the racquetball court so they live longer. Other items are left at the grave sites until the weather makes them no longer presentable.

There are other displays to visit besides the mansion. We visited them all. This is the tribute to Elvis & his movies & tv shows. I didn't care too much about this. I've never seen any of his movies. But mom & aunt Mary liked it & read everything. That's all that matters.

They had SO many of his personal items I couldn't believe it. They had checks he had written for expenses when filming & gifts. This is a check for a watch he bought the director of a film.

We also went through the car museum. This was a Mercedes Elvis bought Priscilla.
The famous pink Cadillac.

Our tour also included going through his airplane, The Lisa Marie.Everything in the plane was covered in thick plastic. The buckles on the seat belts? All made of 24 karat gold.They had a small display of items from his '68 tv comeback special. This is the chair he sat in during that special.

Another display of his clothes. This man was definately on the leading edge of fashion in the 70's.

Elvis radio is on Sirius XM. Mom listens to it all.the.time. She always hears people say, "I drove xxx miles to be on Elvis radio live at Graceland!" And she kinda wanted to do that.

So I circled that booth looking in & staring at the guy inside. He didn't pay a bit of attention to me. Hmph. If you look inside my reflection, you can see him sitting there...not paying attention to me.

We toured the gift shops. They had an Elvis & Priscilla Barbie. I was instantly smitten. Until I saw the price tag. $69.99. C'mon, Priscilla - I like you - but not $69.99 worth. I came home with a $8.99 magnet.

I VERY much enjoyed Graceland. I felt like I was in a storybook. Like a story of American Royalty. And on hollowed ground. It was amazing to me how they have so many personal items of his & they have them so well preserved.

Of course, Elvis died so my brother could live... Gee, thanks Elvis... but I am also happy that mom & aunt Mary got to see it. Aunt Mary was a HUGE Elvis fan & she never even got to see him in concert. One thing I kinda didn't like... while you're in the mansion, you are listening to those headsets. The workers are all around, but they don't tell you anything (obviously because you have headsets on...) But they have SO much knowledge. On our shuttle ride we asked the girl questions & she just talked & talked. Like we asked about the stone wall around the property. Elvis had that built, but it took so long he got impatient & they finished it with a white picket fence. I also asked what was upstairs now. She said she didn't know because NO ONE, not even them, have been allowed up there. She did say his room was above the living room. The bathroom they found him in is above the foyer & Lisa Marie's bedroom was above the dining room. She said Lisa Marie comes back ever year for the candlelight vigil & goes up to her dad's room & looks out the window to watch. Awwww...

Lisa Marie still owns Graceland & the grounds. It is a registered National Historic Landmark, but she owns it. Pay the lady...pay the lady...