Graceland Tour

Oct 18^th

Well the weather sure changed overnight. It rained a little last night, though there weren’t any thunder showers, but it’s about 53 degrees out and it doesn’t look very promising for getting any warmer.

The kids and I went out for our morning constitutional about 7:00 AM. We went over to the doggy area where they could mix and mingle with others out doing their business. Twenty minutes later we were back at the coach and everybody had breakfast.

Heartbreak Hotel

At a quarter to nine, Tina and I went over to buy our tour (http://www.elvis.com/graceland/tours/default.aspx) tickets. A few minutes later we were in line to get on one of the first shuttles of the day headed for the Graceland Mansion across the street. I should explain something here – the whole of Graceland sits on about thirty acres split by Elvis Presley Blvd. On the west side lies the RV Campground, Heartbreak Hotel and the Museum/Gift Shop Complex. On the east side of the road is the Graceland Mansion, outbuildings, farm and burial site. Our tour covers about six separate locations.

The front facade of Graceland Mansion

Once we arrived at the mansion, everybody turned on their audio guide and proceeded through the house. Immediately inside the front door to the right was the music room. Flanked by stained glass peacocks, one of Elvis many baby grand pianos was the centerpiece of the room. To the left of the entrance was the Dining Room and Kitchen. From the kitchen we went to the Sitting Room, Recreation Room, Billiard Room and finally the Jungle Room.

The office used by Elvis and his manager Col Tom Parker

Leaving the main house we entered the Carport where Elvis had a half dozen cars available all the time. The carport led to one of the out buildings set up as an office for Elvis and Col Tom Parker, his long term manager.

One of Elvis many Guitars in the Trophy Room

Next was the building housing his collection of Awards and Trophy’s from his days as a recording artist and movie star. The number of hit million seller single, gold and platinum albums arranged on the walls was staggering and absolutely overwhelming. There were far too many to spend time looking at the titles on each one. Included in the collection were costumes, movie posters and recognition plaques for all the donations he made and causes he supported.

Family Burial Memorial

Moving from the Trophy building we proceeded to the family burial plot and Memorial Garden Where Elvis, his Father, Mother and Grandmother are buried her in a beautiful but simple memorial garden with a very nice Memorial Fountain as the centerpiece. An eternal flame burns at the head of Elvis mortuary marker. Leaving the Memorial Garden we walked through the grounds to the front of the mansion where we boarded a shuttle for the trip back across the street. 

1958 Cadillac Eldorado Biaritz Convertible

Just as we left the shuttle it started to rain. Naturally we weren’t dressed for rain or for cold weather either, so after taking a quick snap of Tina in front of the Cadillac Convertible outside the Automobile Museum we quickly raced to the entrance door to get inside out of the rain. Immediately inside the doors were his two Rolls Royce Silver cloud sedans, one white one black. 

Tina and a Pink Cadillac

Also in the display were his famous Pink Cadillac, Harley-Davidson motorcycles, two Stutz Blackhawks, a 1975 Dino Ferrari, a 1956 Cadillac Eldorado Convertible and the red MG from Blue Hawaii. They also included some of Elvis’ favorite motorized toys, including a go-cart, dune buggy, motorized three-wheelers, a pedal car and Elvis' John Deere 4010 tractor that he used on his ranch and at Graceland.

Convair 880

Next we walked (in the rain) to a couple of different buildings housing large displays of clothing and memorabilia followed by a museum set up by the National Journalists to commemorate Elvis impact on the media. These were all interesting and, of course, each had its own gift shop to go through as you exited.

Our final stop was a tour of his two planes, a 1958 Convair 880 purchased in 1975 and named Lisa Marie after his daughter. He spent more than $800,000 having the jet remodeled. Inside was a custom living room, conference room, sitting room, and private bedroom, as well as gold-plated seatbelts, suede chairs, leather covered tables and 24-karat gold-flecked sinks.   

Lockheed Jet Star

His second jet was a smaller Lockheed Jet Star, customized by Elvis with a yellow and green interior. This plane was primarily used for taking Elvis’ manager and his staff from city to city on his concert tours.

After checking out the last gift shop we headed back to the coach. Yes, it was still raining and yes, we had a long walk, and yes, we were soaked by the time we got back. But changing into dry clothes and having a hot lunch warmed us back up again.

Since everything we want to do in Memphis is out of doors we decided to wait out the rain and spend the afternoon relaxing and listening to the rain come down. Though it was about 70 when we got up this morning, by 4:00 PM it was about 48 degrees and the overnight temp is expected to be in the low 40’s. But the rain is supposed to taper off later today.

By 5:30 PM it was still coming down steady so we decided to have dinner in and watch movies. That way we can plan our next two days here in Memphis to give us the best opportunity to see some of the attractions without freezing our butts off in the rain.

To see all our photos, go to:

http://picasaweb.google.com/mjdolanski