Going to Graceland

Day 21:
Today we visited the most absolute musical town and home of many Rock n' Rollers: Memphis, TN. First off, we paid almost $100 for a premium tour of the real Graceland Mansion, his car collection, and his private air crafts. Every year since 1977, from August 10-16 is considered Elvis Week. A week dedicated to world wide fans of Elvis to come and memorialize the King. Many people gather around the Meditation Garden, in the mansion, where himself, his parents, and his grandmother is buried. August 16th, the day of his death, is expected to have almost one million people lighting candles and remember the great musician. There were also many Elvis impersonators, from old Elvises to wheelchair Elvises, and even obese Elvises! So many Elvises!! Our tour was included with an audio program about all sections of the house, and others about more information on movies and performances, such as his performance on the Ed Sullivan Show. There were many crazy rooms to his mansion, such as a firing range and a "Jungle Room," a room filled with stuffed animals, and many crazy furniture that made it look like a jungle. We were also able to see all of his gold and silver records/boots and his Grammy nominations and award. Including with the mansion was his huge collections of cars. He owned a couple of Honda & Harley motorcycles, a couple of Cadillac cars, including one pink one, which he calls "Gladys' Car," because it was his mother's favorite car. The automobile museum also contains a bunch of toys, such a motorized snowmobiles and motorized tricycles he used in multiple movies, and a limousine he used when he was in the midst of his career. We also visited his two planes he used for tours and just for fun. His biggest plane was called the "Lisa Marie," named after his daughter. It contained full size beds, 24k gold sinks and seat belts, and had mostly non-alcohol drinks. He didn't prefer the taste of alcohol, so he mostly drank lime Gatorade, spring water, and diet Dr.Pepper. But he did have alcohol, because he wanted his guest to have the most fulfilled flight while on the plane. His jet, "Hound Dog" was mostly used for fast travel, being tours and concerts. Both planes have a bolt of lightning and the letters TCB, meaning Taking Care of Business, his trademark. We also went to the Sun Studio Records also in Memphis, where Elvis became a big hit in his Rock n' Roll and Blues and was also used by many hit celebrities such as Johnny Cash, where he successfully recorded "Walk the Line." The studio is still used by many people during the night, and has many occasional visits by a small Irish band by the name of U2(I hope you all heard of them.) And that has been quite a day. Tomorrow we will go to Stax Studio (to pay equal homage to soul music) and start to make our way south to the Gulf states.