Memphis, TN -- February 8, 2012

Hi ya’ll.  We arrived at the Graceland RV Park yesterday.  Our address is 50 Shook Up Lane. The park is located right behind the Heartbreak Hotel and adjacent to the Elvis Presley complex and across the street from Elvis’ home, Graceland. 

Today we took a tour of Graceland, Elvis’ car museum, and airplanes.  Elvis bought Graceland on 26 acres in 1953 for just over $100,000. Coming through the front doors, the living room on the right had white carpet and furniture.  Beautiful stained glass windows of peacocks were on both sides of the large doorway into the music room which had a grand piano.  To the left of the entry was the dining room.  The kitchen had been redone in the early 70’s in typical 70’s colors; so it had an avocado colored sink, wild kitchen carpet and harvest gold appliances.  Off the kitchen was the Jungle Room…green shag carpet on the floor and ceiling and fake fur covered furniture and lamp shades. His parent’s bedroom suite was also on this floor done up in purple .  Going down the stairs to the basement TV and billiard room, the walls and ceiling were mirrored.  Yikes, we had to hold on the hand rails because it was like being in a fun house; I think that was the point, it was a fun house.  The TV room had 3 TV’s and mirrored walls and ceilings.  The billiard room walls and ceiling were covered with tightly sheered printed fabric.  He actually paid someone to decorate!  We weren’t allowed on the second floor as this was Elvis’ private space and they continue to respect that...bummer.  

Outside the main house, we toured the office, and the racket ball court he had built, as well as the building by the pool which now displays many of his gold, platinum, and Grammy awards;  even Priscilla and Elvis’s wedding clothes as well as some of his touring outfits are on display.  Remember the jumpsuits with all the glitz?  Well, for about $2,000.00 on up, you can be a proud owner of a replica. 

The Meditation Garden is now the resting place for Elvis, his mom and dad.  While his twin brother’s remains are not here, there is a memorial also to him.  Apparently, fans leave flowers and other memorial items as you can see in the picture.

After touring the car museum we toured his 2 private planes.  The largest plane, Lisa Marie, had a bedroom, 2 bathrooms with gold flecked sinks, as well as a dining room and living room area.  Now, that’s the way to fly!

We loved seeing all the cars from Rolls Royce’s, the famous pink Cadillac, to a snowmobile he put wheels on since there isn’t much snow in Memphis. 

Of course there was a lot of Elvis music to hear and videos of his life to see.  We thoroughly enjoyed the tour and I came out of there with a new appreciation for Elvis' life as an entertainer, humanitarian and all of his achievements.