It is interesting waking up and realizing that you are at Graceland...home of the king, Elvis. It was a very short walk to the main gate and ticket booth. We arrived early enough that there was no waiting.
The entrance to Graceland, we had it to ourselves.
Within a few minutes we were seated in a small auditorium watching a video about just how famous Elvis was and still is. Then onto the shuttle bus with headphones on and iPads hanging around our necks heading toward the mansion. It is a beautiful old place, and although I am at odds with Elvis's decoration style it sure was a wonder to behold. I think he must have given in to every decorating whim he ever had. It was interesting looking at how he lived. Everything seems to be intact from the day he died.
Elvis’s living room
Walking through the house was a trip back to 1977, when Elvis passed on to the great Las Vegas in the sky. The technology in the house was awesome, all state of the art stuff, because he was Elvis and wanted to get the best of things. But by todays standards it is all completely obsolete.
His ‘TV Room’, what we would call a media room today
But it was great seeing all of the old TV's and recording equipment. He had a whole building devoted to just slot car racing. And horses and race cars and airplanes, and we saw it all. What a morning. This is certainly a must visit, must see if you are in the area and are even a little bit interested in Elvis.
Carol and a purple Cadillac
Back at the Doodle a little puppy was sure glad to see us even after hanging out in a luxury all her own with toys and biscuits and fans running, and it was a cool morning. After a quick lunch we summoned an Uber and were on our way into Memphis. We passed an awful RV crash - rollover that had just happened. The police and rescue were still arriving. A car was upside down in the road and the truck pulling the trailer was off to the side with the trailer tipped over...my battery problem doesn't look so bad.
Tourists at Sun Studio
Sandra the Uber driver dropped us at Sun Studio and we were in awe. Now the is the real deal. Nothing ostentatious here, this is a working studio still today. This is the recording studio where Elvis made his first recordings as did Johnny Cash, Roy Orbison, Carl Perkins and Jerry Lee Lewis. BB King recorded here and so on and so on.
Using the. Sure 1955 Studio Microphone that Elvis and all the others used this is the real deal.
All the original equipment is still there and the recording studio is used at night after us tourists are out of the way. Carol and Harper and I really enjoyed this place. Interestingly there were two other dogs on the tour with Harper and us, all well behaved and it seems that they all enjoyed the music as well.
Beal Street NO animals allowed, we didn’t care…
From Sun Studio we walked a bit, found some lemonade to quench our thirst and started walking to the famous Beal Street about a mile or so away. If course the road was blocked so we made a detour and eventually ended up on Beal Street. The sign says 'Home of the Blues' and the blues seem to be shouting from every open window. People we walking and drinks were flowing. We walked and walked and gawked at the shops and the bars, but none of this area seems to be dog friendly. As a matter of fact at the beginning of the street was a sign with a lot of rules and the last one on the sign said 'No Animals / Reptiles' I guess reptiles are not animals in Memphis..but Harper is not an animal either, she's family. We continued our walk. Once we had our fill, we fired up the Uber app and were soon heading back to the Doodle. Today we were tourists. I think tourist photos can say it better than these humble words so below is a gallery of the day.
Enjoy the gallery below, click any image for a larger view
