Welcome back friends for day two of Billy & Rebecca’s Road Trip Across America!

We started out very early to beat Atlanta traffic and about half an hour outside the city I noticed a sign for the Waffle House at the next exit.  Mom then told me that she had never been to the Waffle House!!!  I’m not sure how this is possible, but there was no other option but to get off the highway for breakfast.

As always the food was good American diner food, and the service we have all come to expect from the Waffle House.

As we drove on and the sun rose the drive became beautiful.  The scenery became large rolling hills all through northern Alabama and Mississippi.  Mom pointed out with it being spring there were many shades of green from light new budding leaves, to the dark pine.

The Welcome Center in Alabama was lovely with a nice setting for the welcome sign, and a large porch out back with rocking chairs.

Mississippi’s Welcome Center was beautiful with dogwood blooming, and lots of historical signs, as well as a lovely retro building.

We made our way to Memphis in good time so we decided to go to Graceland, the home of Elvis Presley!  I had an image in my mind that his estate was in a secluded neighborhood, so you can imagine my surprise as we drove up Elvis Presley Blvd to find that it was the main street with fast food restaurants and tire shops.

The Graceland Exhibit is basically a very small theme park.  Before I go any further please take this one piece of advice, make a reservation for your tour online before you go.  We had to wait two and a half hours before our bus to the mansion, and the planes to quite take up that about of time.

You park at a visitors center that serves as the “main gate”.  It has shops, restaurants, sweet shops, ticket booths, and bus loading area which takes you across the street to the actual home.  Also on this site are the two planes that Elvis owned.

We started our tour walking over to where the “Lisa Marie” and the “Hound Dog II”.  Being an av-geek this was so exciting for me.  The “Lisa Marie” is a Convair 880 that was previously owned and operated by Delta Airlines.  The “Hound Dog II” is a Lockheed Jetstar.  You are able to walk inside both planes and view the cockpits, and on the “Lisa Marie”, you are able to walk the full length of the aircraft.

 

Take note of the sink in the bathroom… it’s GOLD!

Also, the seat belts are gold plated.

The rear of the aircraft has a personal sitting area, bedroom, bathroom, and dressing room for Elvis. Take note in the mirror the sink is once again real gold.

Once it was time to join our tour of the mansion we were brought into a pre-show theater that gave you a short history of Elvis’s career.  Once you exit you line up to take a shuttle bus across the street to the Graceland Estate.

When you exit the bus you are given a few minutes in front of the mansion to take pictures before being brought inside. It is a self-guided tour, however, they give you IPads with headphones, and there are docents in the rooms to answer any questions you might have.  You are kept on the ground floor of the home, and you are also able to visit the grounds out back.

The mansion was built in 1939 by the Moore Family and then sold to Elvis in 1957.

When you walk inside it is a step back in time to the 1970s.  Velvet curtains, shag carpet, black panther ceramics, a tiki bar, and even stairwell walls that shag carpet.  Even the kitchen floor is carpet.  There is a lot of carpet!  All that carpet aside, Mom said that for its time it really was like most homes in the 1970s.  She said today we see may see it as over the top, but back then that was the style.

The Living Room

The Foyer

The Dining Room

The Kitchen

The Downstairs Bar & Lounge

The Billard Room

This room was one of my favorites!  The walls and ceiling are covered in folded fabric!  I have never seen anyting like it!

The Tiki Bar and Lounge – I don’t kow what else to call it!

Once outside you can visit the various out buildings, and then the family cemetary.  Yes, this is where Elvis is resting.

Once we arrived back at the visitors center we were treated to an exhibit that was totally cool!  The cars that Elvis owned!  There are Rolls Royce, Ferrari,  a Pink Caddilac,  and the list goes on!

After our great afternoon at Graceland, we headed to Beale Street in downtown Memphis.  This turned out to be such a fun area!  It reminded me of both Bourbon Street in New Orleans and Freemont Street in Las Vegas.  All of the buildings are vintage, and they are filled with restaurants, blues clubs, gift shops, and I noticed one sweet shop.

We stopped for dinner at Blues City Cafe, and we were not disappointed. Because we had a Barbecue the previous night we decided to sample three of their starters to try some different items.

We had the Sausage and Cheese Plate, Tamales with Chili, and Sea Food Au Gratin. They were all great, and we both agreed that the tamales were the best either of us had ever had! The masa was actually light and fluffy. All the dishes were good and we decided to end our feast with pecan pie, and the apple dumpling cobbler. If you are on Beale Street I would highly recommend stopping by Blues City Cafe!

After dinner we took a walk down Beale Street, listening to the music literally pouring out of the juke joints, admiring the neon, and just all in all enjoying the pleasant atmosphere!

My gut tells me that there is more under the surface here in Memphis, and I look forward to coming back to explore a little more into the heart of this music city!