Graceland and BBQ

We left Rend Lake and headed to Memphis and the Tom Sawyer RV Park. Actually the park is in West Memphis which is in Arkansas. This is a new state for us. Our intent on coming here was to visit Graceland and see if Elvis had left the building. We had a nice riverfront site and watched several barges as they churned up and down the river.

Enlarge the photos for better viewing

Having been born and raised in Burlington, IA which is a river town on the Mississippi River I've had plenty of opportunity to see barges as they carry their cargo to their destinations. It's always a fun sight to see.

We've been plagued by hot and humid weather ever since we left Colorado in July and it's getting pretty tiresome but that's summer and the Midwest.

We got up the next day and drove to Memphis, TN for our tour of Graceland. Glenda pre paid for our tickets so we just had to walk up to the window and claim them. A shuttle took us over to the mansion and we were not disappointed.

Very elegant

Once we got to the mansion we had an IPad that allowed us to listen to an audio tour as we walked through. Every room had some history and significance to Elvis's life. Quite a walk back in time. Especially the furniture and décor.

The rooms that were available for viewing were rooms where Elvis would allow guests and friends. We were not able to view any personal spaces in the upstairs.

There was the Piano Room, the Front Room, The Jungle Room, The Media Room and several others.

We viewed the office where Vernon worked and the rooms that held all of Elvis's gold records and costumes. Very cool stuff.

 There were rooms with his movie memorabilia too.

Very impressive costumes and attire.

The list goes on and on as to the hits and accomplishments to Elvis.

Then we entered the Mediation Gardens where Elvis and his parents are buried. This was not the original place where they were buried. The family got special permission to have the bodies moved to the mansion location from Tupelo.

After our mansion tour we had tickets to see the many cars that Elvis had. Again very impressive.

Like all summer it was pretty hot and humid so going in and out of the many exhibits was refreshing.

Once we had seen the major attractions we headed to Beale St and a great BBQ restaurant called Blues City Café. A very busy place with great reviews. We were not disappointed. Just a plain looking motif but wonderful BBQ. I had the ribs and Glenda had a Pulled Chicken Salad. We had fries as a side along with cole slaw.

We took a walk along Beale St after lunch and even found a geocache near the river. All in all it was a fun day.

A few more sights from Memphis.

We only had the one day to spend in Memphis and to experience Graceland. Something everyone should do at least one time in their lives. Elvis truly is the King of Rock and Roll and Memphis has some of the best BBQ you will ever eat. We're so happy made this stop along our way to AZ.

Seven interesting facts about Elvis

1. Elvis had a twin...On January 8, 1935, Elvis Aron (later spelled Aaron) Presley was born at his parents’ two-room house in East Tupelo, Mississippi, about 35 minutes after his identical twin brother, Jesse Garon, who was stillborn.
2. Elvis bought Graceland when he was 22....In 1957, Elvis shelled out $102,500 for Graceland, the Memphis mansion that served as his home base for two decades.
3. Elvis’ controversial manager, Colonel Tom Parker, was a former carnival barker...Born Andreas Cornelis van Kuijk in the Netherlands in 1909, Elvis’s future manager immigrated illegally to America as a young man, where he reinvented himself as Tom Parker and claimed to be from West Virginia (his true origins weren’t known publicly until the 1980s).
4. Elvis served in the Army AFTER he was already famous...In December 1957, Elvis, by then a major star, was drafted into the U.S. military. After receiving a short deferment so he could wrap up production on his film “King Creole,” the 23-year-old was inducted into the Army as a private on March 24, 1958, amidst major media coverage.
5. Elvis never performed outside North America...An estimated 40 percent of Elvis’ music sales have been outside the United States; however, with the exception a handful of concerts he gave in Canada in 1957, he never performed on foreign soil.
6. Elvis was burned in effigy after his appearance on Ed Sullivan... After the singer made his second appearance in October, crowds in Nashville and St. Louis, outraged by the singer’s sexy performance and concerned that rock music would corrupt America’s teens, burned and hanged Elvis in effigy.
7. Elvis bought Franklin Roosevelt's yacht...In 1964, Elvis paid $55,000 for the Potomac, the 165-foot-long vessel that served as FDR’s “floating White House” from 1936 to 1945.

So there you have it, our visit to Graceland and Memphis, TN

Next stop is Jackson, MS, then Waveland, MS and Abbeville, LA.

I'm so far behind on my posts so I will double and triple up our stops for the next few posts.

Thank you for following along.