Graceland Continued!

 Once we went through the main house tour we had a few more stops to make. One exhibit was about Elvis' private planes. The Lisa Marie was huge! Elvis had a bedroom in the back, with a queen bed and everything! It wasn't very cool looking inside though, so I didn't take any photos. I loved the videos though. They said that once when Elvis realized his daughter Lisa Marie had never seen slow, he whisked her off to Colorado. She played in the snow for a few minutes, then they came back to Memphis.

 The smaller plane was much cuter inside! Look at those curtains! And the colorful seats!

The automobile museum was really cool! I'm not really into cars, but I was drooling over some of the ones from Elvis' collection.

Especially his pink Cadillac! This one was his mother's favorite and she liked to drive it around Memphis.

 There's a tv playing some of their home movies on a loop. I LOVED watching them. You can see some of them on youtube here. I especially loved the videos of them in Hawaii, you can see them around the 2 minute mark. What is better than Elvis in a striped tee and short shorts?

 There were a few other little exhibits on our tickets, mostly kind of lame, but I liked the Blue Hawaii one.

 Oh Elvis.

 Another fun thing about Graceland is the sheer amount of Elvis memorabilia! They have everything from Elvis nail clippers (You KNOW I brought home a pair!) to replica jumpsuits! Of course they didn't have my name on a mug. But they did have Olga.

 Everyone needs an Elvis chalice!

 I came pretty close to buying one of these TCB cups. I use cups that style for my smoothie every morning, so I would get use out of it. In the end it was just tooooo overpriced for me.

 They have everything you could ever think of with Elvis on it. And a few things you wouldn't. I kept telling Travis that I wanted to get the guitar filled with popcorn, and I think he thought I was making it up. Haha. What a weird souviner.

 One of these days I'll get one of these things, they are so funny! I think I like #4 the best! We did end up buying the overpriced photo they took of us before we started our tour. It was pretty cute, and I was in vacation mode!

 If you go to Graceland, wait to buy your souvenirs at this shop across the street from all the official ones. It has a lot of the same stuff, but much lower prices!

 We rented a car for the weekend, and it came with Sirius radio! And Sirius has an all Elvis station, so we decided to just listen to that for the weekend. It was fun! Like our Detroit trip where we only listened to Motown music.

 This weekend we also stopped by Elvis' first home in Memphis. I'm not sure how we hadn't gotten around to it before. Isn't it cute? I would love to see what it looks like inside!

 Look at that fence! I love the ironwork, and how they did the bricks! Those awnings are pretty great too. It is on a residential street, but has been bought by a musical preservation society or something, so no one lives there.

Another shot of those cool gates!

Graceland! Land of Dreams!

 This is Travis' vacation week, and mine too! For a few reasons we weren't able to plan a big trip (nothing scandalous, it's too boring to type out) so we are having a little "state-cation." We're doing a few short trips to the big cities within our state. This past weekend we kicked it off with a trip to Memphis! We have been going to Elvis week about every two years since 2007, but we haven't actually been inside Graceland since Travis' parents took us probably 10 years ago! And I wasn't really into vintage then, so I knew it would be a treat!

 We decided to treat ourselves and do the platinum tour! It's only 4 bucks more, but seems more glamorous.

 I remember being underwhelmed by the size of Graceland on my first trip. It seemed more like a nice house, than an opulent mansion you would expect from the King of rock n' roll.

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 The tour is self guided with some snazzy head phones. It was PACKED the day we went!

 Elvis had such incredible taste. I would move right into his house and not change a thing! Look at those peacock doors! And he really had a thing for incredible drapes.

 Looooove that mirror wall!

 Do you see that wallpaper!! It is in his parent's bathroom. What I wouldn't give for that purple tile/poodle paper combo!

 The tour does not include the upstairs. When he was alive, the upstairs was Elvis' sanctuary and guests weren't allowed up there. They continue that today. I wonder if it is furnished like the downstairs, or if it has all been cleaned out.

 There are so many paintings around the house that I would love to bring home with me!

 The dining room. Check out that mirrored wall and tabletop. And more drapes!

 The downstairs rooms are where it gets really good! This is Elvis' tv room, there are three little tvs mounted in the wall because he apparently liked the watch the news on the three major networks all at once. I love that big blue sectional so much! And that monkey!

 Here is the amazing mirrored bar in the same room.

 And the pool room! Isn't that a look? Look at the couch made of the same fabric that is draping the walls! It is so weird and dark in there, I feel like it would be anything BUT relaxing down there.

 Then it is everyone's favorite, the jungle room! Elvis loved Hawaii, and this room was decorated to remind him of his trips to the islands. It is so good, from the green shag to the carved furniture.

 Look at that faux fur upholstery!

He even had a custom indoor waterfall wall made.

I'm not sure what I love more, that bear, or the face on that chair!

The office out back. So much good fan art!

There are hundreds of gold records and awards everywhere. It is amazing how successful Elvis was during his lifetime, and continues to be even today. And those jumpsuits! I never got tired of them, even though there are TONS on display!

And the old movie posters. I really want one to frame in our house!

What I wouldn't give to dig through the stuff in this case! I need those Elvis shoes! Or the diary! I never seem to find vintage Elvis stuff when I'm out and about. Maybe someday.

The tour ends in the meditation garden, and Elvis' grave. The song "If I Can Dream" plays over your head phones and I might have gotten a little teary. I really love Elvis. His music, his movies, and his cute face! For real, all the Elvis images were driving me crazy! Here he is, singing that song on the '68 Special, which has come to be known as the comeback special.

So amazing! I wish I could have been around to see him perform.

The Elvis Vigil

So here is the main reason we went to memphis in the first place, the elvis vigil! this year was the 34th anniversary of elivis' death. every year they close off elvis presley blvd. in front of graceland and thousands of people come out and participate in a candle light vigil.

before we left for graceland travis made us fried peanut butter and banana sandwiches. they are an elvis week staple but i can't stand to spend 5 bucks a piece at a restaurant. they are so good though.

we watched some tribute artists in graceland plaza. they called this guy "the voice" because he sounded so much like elvis. but it is kind of easy to sound like elvis. i mean, even i can do it.

one of the few crazy elvis outfits that i thought was actually cute!

that is his elvis face.

then we looked through all the gift shops. they have elvis EVERYTHING. and there are probably 15 shops FULL of just elvis stuff.


like bingo markers.

and yatzee. but i couldn't find a new pair of elvis finger nail clippers. dang. i just got some post cards (that i forgot to send) and a TCB decal for my car.

the actual graceland tour is awesome but it is really expensive so we don't do it every year. check out the jungle room! you expect some extravagant mansion but it's really dated (and awesome)

once it gets dark we head out to check out the tributes people are putting together.

one year i want to make a shrine! but we actually don't have much elvis stuff.

then we lit our candles for the service. fan club members give speeches and play songs. this year the theme was "the 12th of never" so they played that song, and if i can dream. and people cried.


then we all lifted our candles high in the air and sang "can't help falling in love with you." i love it so much! i love being in huge groups of people geeking out about something.

i had to get SOMETHING to eat at Rockabilly's, the restaurant at graceland.


there are "tribute artists" EVERYWHERE. from little kids to old men.

mmmm. root feer float...

i love that he takes me on trips like this. nerds forever!

we went out to sign the wall of course. we do that every time we go to memphis.

i love to look at all the funny drawings people do.


the line of people walking up the drive way to the grave site. they moved elvis to graceland because the graveyard he was in was getting torn up by all the people visiting. for the first time ever we decided not to walk up to the grave. it is about a 4 hour wait (if it moves fast) and we were so tired from walking around all day. the press estimated 15000-20000 people were there. next year for the 35th anniversary they are estimating that they will have 75,000. so we aren't even thinking about going. that is just too huge of a crowd for me. maybe we'll have an elvis night!

as soon as i said "i haven't seen anyone doing elvis drawings on the street..." we walked past this guy. haha. awesome.