He’s been known to make women faint, swoon, cry and get the vapors, but for me, going to see all things Elvis just gave me sweaty thighs.
Good thing his airplane, The Lisa Marie, had floor vents.
Our visit to Graceland was a must-see on our GNAT the Tennessee Edition. Only 210 miles from Nashville (so how could we not continue on?) we parked our cranberry cruiser in front of the Heartbreak Hotel and commenced on an afternoon of all-things-Elvis. The mansion (not so much a mansion as a 2500 sq. foot house), the car museum, a tour of duty with Private Presley and a walk aboard the Lisa Marie and it’s sister gulf stream jet capped off a hot & humid day in Memphis.
I'm pretty sure when Elvis bought Graceland it was somewhere out in the country on the outskirts of Memphis. Today, Graceland sits in the heart of commercialized Memphis complete with gas stations, fast food joints, souvenir shops, cheap motels and six lanes of very busy traffic crowding her borders. But, once you enter the gates of the property you are transported into another world....the world of ELVIS!
Exterior of the mansion
Who knew that a man with so many vocal talents could have so few design talents? Consider this, one of the more tastefully decorated rooms, the front sitting room comes complete with peacocks and an 18-foot sofa.
Front sitting room
The last time we were in the home of a king it was King Louis XIV and the home was the Palace at Versailles. And just like when we were in the hall of mirrors at Versailles we took our picture together in the hall of mirrors at Graceland. Yes, we are two tacky tourists. (Note the expression on the one whom I adore's face)
Hallway mirror
Perhaps the biggest shocker on the design-front was the pool room. Imagine a room completely draped in fabric. Floor to ceiling. Ceiling to floor. Fabric. And not just any old fabric. But fabric with a pattern that if you looked at it too long, you were pretty sure you'd swallowed a qualude or two (not that I would really know what that's like, but I can imagine it). The same fabric covered the table tops, clashed with the carpet and definitely clashed with the tiffany style lights over the pool table. Holy smokes.
Pool Room
Real Men Wear Suits
You know how you go to these exhibits and you're shocked at how small celebrities really are? Well, the shocking thing for me was that Elvis was actually a NORMAL sized person! He wasn't too tall. He definitely wasn't too short. He was normal. After visiting Graceland though, I now believe that his normal size was probably the only thing that was normal about this man.
Wall of Gold Records
Sort of says it all, doesn't it?
