Trip Day 5 (probably one of the best days of my life)

Locations: Graceland - Memphis, Tennessee; Interstate BBQ - Memphis, Tennessee; Elvis Presley Birthplace - Tupelo, Mississippi; Gainesville, Georgia; Bogart, Georgia

Well. The day has finally arrived. Started having surreal feelings again immediately when I woke up. I knew the day would be very bittersweet because it was our last day on the trip. I really did not want to go home, I wanted the day to go as slowly as possible.

After breakfast and packing up the van (for the 14,000th time) we headed north. Elvis Presley Boulevard is VERY hard to miss due to the sign...

Easy to find

I was really surprised by EPB, its very commercial and you would never know Graceland was on this road. We pulled into the parking lot and parked, which is across the street from the mansion. This is when it really started to hit me, that I was really here. After getting the tickets, we got in line to wait for the shuttle to take us across the street. My first glimpse of Graceland was the gates while standing in line outside.

Wish I could describe the feeling I got when I first saw them

I know this all sounds incredibly silly to anyone that isn't an Elvis fan, but I got REALLY quiet from this point on. I didn't want to miss anything. They gave us our little headphone things that we would use for the audio portion of the tour, then we got on the bus to go across the street. The feeling I got when first going through those gates was just...indescribable. It was my first experience of being somewhere that I knew for a fact that Elvis had been before. Once again, I know this sounds incredibly strange to anyone who isn't an Elvis fan. Don't try and understand, because you wont. Going up the driveway, we pulled to a stop in front of the mansion and got out to wait our turn to enter. I just stood and stared.

My first view of Graceland. The top two right windows are Elvis' bedroom.

I think between my teacher and my classmates, I had been asked if I was okay about 10 or 15 times at this point, and I reassured them that I was, that I was just taking it all in. After a short speech of no flash photography by one of the blue-shirted tour guides, we were shown inside.

Stained glass above the front door

I had two immediate emotions walking through the front door. The first was the smell, that musty, 1977 smell. The second was "Elvis walked through this door many times, now you have." I actually felt a little light headed (don't think it was from the heat) as we stood in the foyer before beginning the tour.

My first sight was up the beautiful staircase towards the second floor landing. For those that aren't so knowledgeable about Elvis, I should give a short background on the significance of the second floor. Elvis had very little privacy, so this part of his home was always his way to get away from the fans and the cameras. Elvis died on August 16, 1977 in Graceland on the second floor in his bathroom. From what I've heard, only a VERY few are allowed upstairs. Also from what I've heard, nothing has been moved or touched since that day. I can completely understand the family's wishes though. Just to look up those stairs and know what happened up there is intense. I've seen the home movies with Elvis and Priscilla as well, and to see that staircase was quite a beginning experience.

The stairs to the second floor

We moved forward through the front entry way and directly to the right was what I call the "White Room" that has the HUGE couch, along with the famous peacock stained glass windows that I'm sure most people have seen. In case you haven't, here you go...

One hell of a couch...

The peacock windows

After the front room, we ventured down the hallway to Elvis' parents' room, which I have cleverly dubbed it the "Purple Room" because of, well, it's purpleness.

Very purpley...

I also, at this point, began to notice the strategically placed blue shirted tour guides at the foot and top of every stair case (there were quite a few stair cases by the way) to make sure nobody sneaked upstairs. I honestly don't think I'd wanna go up there anyways. I have a certain level of curiosity, but to see where someone died...that's a little morbid to me. Kind of disrespectful as well.

We circled back around the main stair case to the dining room, and I was also getting this feeling of being "watched" lol mostly because of the mirrored walls. They were almost everywhere. Through the dining room was the kitchen, which I had always heard was the main hub of the house. Kind of underwhelming, but I guess for a house that was originally built in 1939, it was good enough. I should also mention that, even as much as I love Elvis, and Graceland itself, it's quite tacky. We all know Elvis was rather eccentric, and this place was decorated in the 60s and 70s, so this kind of thing is to be expected. There was also another staircase headed up off the kitchen, which, of course, was blocked off.

Reminds me a lot of how the kitchen in my parents' house used to look

I did like the vintage oven

Through the kitchen, we got a brief glimpse of the "Jungle Room" before heading downstairs. We'll get to that in a minute. The stairs headed down to the basement had mirrored walls and ceiling. Too freaking much lol.

Yeaaaaah....

I do have to say these hallways and staircases were VERY narrow. Kind of strange for such a large house. The house itself is kind of big, but the rooms themselves weren't that big, but then again, this house was first built in a time where rooms weren't that large. Lots of rooms in the house though, or at least on the property, 23 rooms total, 8 bedrooms and 8 bathrooms.

Downstairs, we saw first the TV room. Technologically speaking, it was all rather antiquated, but at that time, it was pretty advanced. The story goes that Elvis had heard about President Nixon having 3 televisions to watch at the same time, so he had to have the same. The yellow and blue were....yeah. Loved the monkey figurine though.

We turned back and went across the hall to the billiard room. I'd always heard about the room with the fabric on the walls and ceiling, but the feeling one gets when walking into this room is incredibly claustrophobic. I know Elvis needed his privacy, but to me, the house was beginning to feel VERY closed in.

We turned to the stairs to go back up to the main floor and all I saw was green shag. It was time to ascend into the famous "Jungle Room."

Hard to describe the feeling this causes (sorry its sideways)

The Jungle Room. Just...wow. Another room I'd always heard about, and its hard to believe until you are there to see it yourself. The fountain was neat though. The "fur" on the chairs (I say "fur" because I sincerely hope it wasn't real fur) was a little bit much though. I understand that this room was turned into a studio towards the end of Elvis' life, and that's where he recorded his last music.

This is where the tour of the main house ended. I know there were more rooms on the main floor, but I think (may be mistaken on this) that the other rooms were the bedrooms where the "Memphis Mafia" (his so-called friends, who did little more than live off his fame and money, while giving him whatever he wanted...okay sorry, sensitive subject with me) lived. We headed outside, to the out buildings, the first being his father Vernon's office.

(By the way, I know I'm going crazy with the pics, but I had to take so many cause there was so much to see. If you are tired of them, there's always that little red x in the top right hand corner of this window and you can stop reading :) ) We walked around through the backyard, where I got a few pics of the back of the house.

Next was the building with ALL the gold records Elvis made, plus movie memorabilia. Then we made our way to what was formerly the racquetball building, where Elvis had played early that morning before his death. The court is no longer there, and its now full of more records, and some of his jumpsuits. We also passed by the pool.

Just past the pool is the Meditation Garden, quite a fitting way to end the tour. I noticed the group we were touring with that had been pretty talkative during the tour, had grown very quiet. I'm sure most know that the Meditation Garden is where Elvis, his mother, his father, and grandmother are all buried. It was a very emotional moment for me (not outwardly) to be there. I think lots of people don't realize just how relatively young Elvis was when he died at 42. It's stories like his that are so tragic, to explode on to the music scene and not be able to properly handle it. I did have to fight back the tears a bit. Call me silly, I don't really care. I've always loved and listened to Elvis and being at Graceland has always been a dream of mine.

I could continue to write about the cars, the movie stuff, the jumpsuits, etc. To be honest, in writing this post, I'm back in Memphis right now. Which saddens me. Because I actually want to be back there. I'll write one more post, possibly this weekend, to summarize and close out my blues trip experience. I appreciate you reading this.

Trip Day 4

Locations: Lorraine Motel - Memphis, Tennessee; STAX Museum of American Soul Music - Memphis, Tennessee; Four-Way Restaurant - Memphis, Tennessee; Sun Studios – Memphis, Tennessee; The Peabody Hotel - Memphis, Tennessee; Beale Street – Memphis, Tennessee

Day 4 was our first full day in Memphis. My teacher kept commenting on how alive I had become ever since we’d arrived in the city. I explained to him my family’s history in the area and of course I’d already told him about my Graceland/Elvis thing. I didn’t know what an emotional morning I was in store for.

Our first stop was the National Civil Rights Museum, housed in the former Lorraine Motel. I’m sure just about any of the 3 people that read this blog know about the hotel and what happened there in 1968. Upon first arriving, it looked very much the same as it did over 40 years ago, with the exception of the entrance to the museum.

Original sign still stands

The two cars out front aren’t the cars that were actually there that day, just authentic from that time period. It’s very quiet around that part of Memphis, so when you walk up to the doors, you can almost imagine the sounds from that day. Before walking in the doors, you can obviously see the balcony where Dr. King was shot.

The spot where Dr. King was standing when he was shot

After standing and just looking a while, of course I thought about where the shot came from. When I looked across the street, the boarding house loomed in the near distance.

The smaller window on the top right was where the shooter was

Going into the museum, we started with a film called “The Witness” which told the story of the days leading up to and the day of the assassination. The film revolved around Rev. Samuel “Billy” Kyles’ account of those events, he was one of the men accompanying Dr. King on his trip to Memphis. I think it was on HBO, not really sure. It’s worth watching, really set the tone for the whole morning.

The museum itself is....I can't really find a word for it. It's something that everyone should see for themselves because it really does open one's eyes to the people that died for civil rights in this country. That's about all I'm going to say about it, more pics are on my Facebook page if you want to see them. Don't want to be short, but it was a chilling place and just thinking about it brings back all those feelings I felt the day I was there.

On a lighter topic, our next stop was STAX Museum of American Soul Music. It's the only soul music museum in the world. Had some really interesting exhibits in it, and I was really surprised about some of the artists that recorded at this studio. What also makes it unique is that it's in a former movie theater, so the floors are sloped, which gave all of the music recorded there a unique sound.

Sign out front

Isaac Hayes' Cadillac

After STAX, we went and ate at the Four-Way Restaurant which was recommended to us by a guy there at the museum. It's definitely one of those places that you wouldn't know about unless you asked around, which honestly in my experience has turned out to be some of the best food I've ever had. This place did NOT disappoint. I had turkey and dressing, mashed potatoes, green beans, lima beans, and corn bread. I can't even begin to describe how incredibly good it all was. The place has been there for 65 years and I can definitely see how!


After lunch, our first Elvis-connected stop was next: Sun Studio. This place is probably third on my bucket list behind Graceland and the birthplace in Tupelo. Our tour guide was....quirky to say the least. The place is not that big, first we started upstairs where the little museum is with all the old artifacts. Some pretty cool stuff in there...

Elvis' high school diploma

Original sign used before it was named Sun Studio

Where Elvis would have stood when recording

While upstairs was cool and all, the actual studio itself was what I was there for. When we walked down the stairs and crossed through the front office and into the studio, I have to admit I was completely overwhelmed. Mind you, its a very small and musty studio, but to be in the place where Elvis recorded his first records was, for me, quite an experience. It kind of felt surreal to be honest. I wish I could remember more of what was going through my head at the time I was there, but I don't think I was 100% conscious when I was there. Any other Elvis fan would understand. The two videos below are just footage of the studio, I didn't think that a picture could capture the whole feeling.

 

After Sun, (and more money spent in a gift shop lol) we headed into downtown Memphis to the Peabody Hotel to see the Peabody Ducks. I'd always heard about them and couldn't wait to see them! They were absolutely adorable!! We didn't get to see the famous march, but I plan on doing that when I go back with my friends in December. The hotel, by the way, is absolutely breathtaking. At least the lobby is.

After the Peabody, we returned to the hotel to clean up and rest before Beale Street that night. We ate at BB King's Restaurant & Blues Club for supper.Another fantastic meal, with a great atmosphere. Another surreal moment for me, eating at a blues club upstairs overlooking the dance floor listening to a great blues band. For the rest of the night, we walked up and down Beale and I finished my list of souvenirs to get for my friends and family. While I had a fantastic time that night, my mind was already at the next day. The next day would be Graceland, the number one item on my bucket list. Needless to say, I would not get a whole lot of sleep that night :)