We headed to Graceland for our tour of the mansion that Elvis purchased when he was 22 years. The mansion was built in 1939. I was actually surprised at how small it was. I guess I was expecting an actual enormous mansion. It was big, but just not as big as I expected. I think we were both also expecting it to be it its own area with nothing around for miles, but it was practically in the armpit of town. We didn't tour the private planes that Elvis had, but it was a fun tour and even Elliot admits that it was more fun that he had expected. I took over 260 pictures, so none of you will ever have to go on the tour yourselves!
I was interested in his use of mirrors, monkeys, and carpeted ceilings. The tour starts in the front living room, to the kitchen, downstairs to the media room and pool room, back upstairs to the family room, out to what used to be a 4-car garage that was converted into a big room for the memorabilia you'll see. Outside to Vernon's office, to the smokehouse where Elvis did his target practice, to the trophy room (probably bigger than the actual mansion), out to the Racquetball Building which houses most of his jumpsuits, then out to the Meditation Garden where Elvis, his parents, and paternal grandmother are buried as well as a gravestone for his stillborn twin brother.
What I was surprised to learn, even though I did several reports on Elvis in school and thought I was fairly Elvis-knowledgeable, was that he was extremely generous with his money. There are cases of checks that were made out to people and charities all mostly for $1000. I was also interested to learn that despite his lack of great morals, he was a religious man and read quite a bit. He'd write in the margins of his books "Amen" and "Enlighten Me." I was also happy to learn that it took him a while before got fat, and even then, it was mostly just his face and hair. The final jumpsuit that he wore is in the Racquetball room and he was not a large man.
The policy at Graceland is to accept ALL flowers and place them at the gravesite. We weren't allowed to use flash in the buildings, so some of the pictures didn't turn out great, but there was our tour! It was fun!
Elvis has left the building . . . thank you, thank you very much.
8 comments:
What another fun trip! You're just a travelin' woman!
I've never thought much about going to Graceland... Now I don't really have to! I does look like a neat place to go though. Also, looks like you had a blast. I like Elliot's headphones...
Wow, I never knew you were such an Elvis afficiando. I think along with this post we should have video of stella singing you ain't nothin but a hounddog.
I'm all shook up! That looked like fun. I'm sure you're dying to get one of his sequined jumpsuits! Ooh la la. And it looked like you were Stella-free. How great is that? It's nice to not have to worry in such a historic place. Where to next???
Sorry Liz, I couldn't see the hounddog. I had an image in my mind of Stella and The Farmer in the Dell.
"hunka hunka stinky cheese" hehehe
Oh, Stella has moved on to bigger and better things . . . The Sound of Music. Just you wait.
Fantastic pictures. I'm sure the King is happy that you were finally able to pay tribute to him.
Sounds like fun!! Boy you guys are just the travelin' family this year. That is fun, I love to travel.
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