Walking in Memphis...

... we left Sunday morning to head toward Illinois for Christmas and made a two-day trip of it, staying at Elvis' Heartbreak Hotel Sunday night and visiting Graceland Sunday afternoon (the coldest day of the year for Memphis - it was 19 degrees!). Will is a huge Elvis fan right now, thanks to his Grandpa Paul's influence, even wants to be Elvis for Halloween next year and possibly sing one of his songs in a talent show (if there is one at school or something), so he was pretty excited to see where The King lived. Rodney and I appreciate and like Elvis' music, but can't say we are true fans, per se.

Rodney had been to Graceland years ago, but I had not, having been raised on the West Coast with no real reason to vacation in Tennessee. It's like people who live on the East side of the country never having been to Hollywood or Las Vegas, I guess. I was excited to go.

The following tour is for the benefit of my family who hasn't had a chance to visit Graceland, yet, especially for my Dad, the American history lover. Flash photography was not allowed, so I did my best with my Canon and what light was available. Here are some of the pictures of Graceland I took, with my best explanation for each:


The front of the house. Elvis purchased it in 1957 for $102,050 when he was 22 from a doctor's family, who named it after the matriarch of the family, Grace. Elvis liked the name so well that he kept it. Graceland was all decked out for Christmas while we were there, which was always the case during the holidays in Elvis' day. There was even a huge nativity scene in the front yard, which is mentioned in Pricilla Presley's 1985 book "Elvis and Me," which I read this week. We did drive by Graceland at night and it was lit up beautifully.

As you step through the front doors of Graceland, immediately ahead is the staircase. No one is allowed upstairs. Elvis always came down and greeted his guests, so, out of respect and privacy for Elvis, the public is not allowed upstairs.

To the immediate right of the entryway is the living room, decked out with mirrors on both sides, making the room appear larger.



These photos are taken of the left, center and right of the room. There is also a chest in the room with a photo of Elvis' parents on it.

Along the right side of the staircase is a short hallway, leading to Elvis' parents' room on the right. His mom, Gladys, only lived about a year at Graceland before her death. His Dad, Vernon, later married and moved out of Graceland. Elvis' grandma, who he nicknamed Dodger, took up residence in this room later.

Back at the entry way to the house, if you go left, you will step immediately into the formal dining room.

Through a door to the right is the kitchen, which is described as the hub of life at Graceland while Elvis was there. The TV in the far end of the kitchen, behind the suit, was always on and the maids were often cooking up something for Elvis or his entourage.


Heading from the dining room, through the kitchen and straight ahead was the infamous Jungle Room, but more on that later. Around the corner from the Jungle Room was a mirrored (when I mean mirrored, I mean completely covered in mirrors!) staircase to the basement. Downstairs was the TV room (three TV's... I think there were only three channels back then, LOL) with a great U-shaped couch Rodney really liked, with pillows with mirrors sewn into them.


Also down there was the pool room with more than 350 yards of very-1970's multi
-colored fabric decorating every square inch.

Back upstairs, through a second, carpet-covered staircase, was another side of the long Jungle Room. This was truly just a family room until Elvis had it decorated with jungle-themed, yet very 1970's, decor. The fake animal fur chairs were a fad and the big round one in the corner with the teddy bear was his daughter, Lisa Marie's, favorite as a child. Xan saw the tricycle she had been given for Christmas decades ago and declared that he wanted it.



The jungle room also featured a custom-made brick waterfall wall. It still works today. In fact, nearly everything in the house is original or has been restored to how it was when Elvis lived there.

Out the back door from the Jungle Room was the backyard, with a carport (no cars in it now - they come later when we go to the car museum), Vernon's office, Lisa Marie's old swingset and the horse pasture, where horses are still kept, but we did not see them that day, probably due to the cold.

Added on to the house by Elvis was an annex, to house a miniature race car track of gigantic proportions. According to Pricilla in her book, she had given Elis a small race car set that he loved so much he added on the annex and brought in a huge amount of track and cars. After a few weeks of playing with the set for hours on end, he grew bored of it and didn't step back into the annex until it became his trophy room years later. The Graceland tour mentions nothing of this story. But the trophy room is definitely something to see.


The boys were kind enough to pose for me in front of Elvis' gold lamee suit.

Rodney and I, as non-serious fans, were very impressed by the number of gold and platinum records Elvis had earned. Being too young to remember him well when he was alive (or not at all in Rodney's case, since he was born nearly a year after Elvis' death) we didn't really get the chance to appreciate his influence on pop culture and American history. This hallway really speaks volumes on that. We also found it humorous, yet marveled at the fact, that he had two volumes of his No. 1 hits on No. 1 albums also go gold while he was alive. Gold going gold going gold... just call him King Midas!

This gold record was for "Return to Sender." I have other shots of other songs, but due to the low light and no-flash rule, none of the others turned out as well.

Down separate hallways in the trophy room were displays about Elvis' movie career (he hated the poor scripts and songs in the movies he was contracted to make, and, because they were such box office smashes, he never got the opportunity to make the serious movies he craved - although, he did like the money the movies brought in. Aside from his 5-year MGM studio contract salary, he got 50 percent of the profits from the movies.), his wedding and his philanthropy. These are the wedding clothes he and Pricilla were married in at their 1968 ceremony in Las Vegas.


Across the backyard path from the Trophy Room annex was the Racquetball Court. Seriously, if I ever win the lottery, I am building myself one of these... I love racquetball and love the idea of being able to play whenever I want! Since no one plays racquetball at Graceland anymore, the curators have set up the racquetball court to house a number of Elvis' jumpsuits, including Will's favorite, the one on the right with the matching cape in the center. There was also a movie of Elvis performing. In true redneck fashion, Will looked up at me with stars in his eyes and said, "I think I am going to faint."



No racquetball court is complete without a bar and sitting room. The sitting room had windows to the right to watch the game through. This was where Elvis spent his final morning, jamming with friends.

The Graceland tour concluded with a stop at the Meditation Garden, where Elvis is buried with his mother, father and grandmother. A memorial to his twin bother who died in infancy is also there. I was surprised to know that Elvis had only been 42 when he died.

After the tour of Graceland, we went to his car museum, where a number of beautifully kept and/or restored vehicles of Elvis' are displayed, including the famous pink Cadillac, which he said was his mother's even though she did not drive. She simply loved the car. Xan was a big fan of this black number and Rodney paused briefly at the motorcycle display. Elvis was a Harley fan.




There is a separate display room of Elvis' jumpsuits, called Sincerely Elvis. Dozens of jumpsuits with rivets, jewels, capes, intricate designs, huge belts, are there, none of them the same. Although, he did wear a few of them to more than one performance.

Last, but not least, was the outdoor display of Elvis' private planes, the Lisa Marie, and the smaller Jet Star. The Jet Star featured green and yellow leather seats and was probably quite the showpiece for its time.


I would have preferred to travel by the Lisa Marie, myself, which featured leather, suede, satin and more in its upholstery. It had a conference table, bar and a bedroom suite for Elvis. This was also the plane sent to California to pick up Pricilla the day Elvis died. Lisa had been at Graceland visiting her father that week and needed her Mom.





Above is a portrait of Pricilla and Lisa together that was in the diningroom at Graceland. Although Pricilla and Elvis divorced in 1973, the same year my own parents got married, they remained close friends until his death.