Saturday, July 19

GRACELAND, definitely worth its own post

My parents were in town this last week. It's been busy, but so much fun!This is my dad (the goofball), their friend Cathy (who lives here, they stayed at her house), and my mom. It was great having them around.
My parents took Jason, Addie and I to Graceland, Elvis' kingdom here in Memphis. Although none of us are Elvis fanatics, we were all surprised by how much we enjoyed Graceland! There was a lot of interesting facts to learn, and his mansion, cars, and airplanes were all fun to tour. The above picture is a view of his living room. Yes, that is a 15 foot white couch with stained-glass windows and a baby grand piano. Ah, that would be the life. This is Elvis' TV room. You can't see it in this picture, but the ceiling is covered with mirrors, as were many many other walls throughout his mansion. The stairway leading to the basement was completely covered with mirrors, it felt like walking in a fun house. The walls of this TV room had lightening bolts painted on them along with his motto TCB, "taking care of business."
This is Elvis' raquetball court converted to an awards room. It was crazy! This wasn't even half of the awards! It seemed that almost every song he sang turned gold or platinum and was a #1 hit. It's mind boggling to imagine how successful he'd be now if he was still alive.
Me and Elvis and a new perm.
Jason really liked this poster. It says "BEFORE ANYONE DID ANYTHING, ELVIS DID EVERYTHING." It certainly seemed that way.

How Addie enjoyed Graceland.
A smattering of Elvis outfits. They were even more bizarre in person.This is Elvis' grave, next to him are his parents. The signs said Graceland receives flowers almost daily to place on his grave. There have seldom been people throughout history that still receive this kind of constant attention and affection 30 years after their death. Jason and I infront of his private jet, the Lisa Marie. Inside there are gold-plated seat belts, a bar stocked with Gatorade (his favorite drink), and a queen size bed that had a seat belt going all the way across it (to bring it up to FAA regulations).

Graceland was a lot of fun to visit. We had such a great time with my family, although we were all completely exhausted by the end. I have more respect for Elvis now. He was quite the philanthroper as well as regular guy. He had a fleet of golf carts they would race around his property and was constantly giving money back to the city of Memphis and to other charities. Memphis could really use him now!

6 comments:

Mike and Wendy said...

Sounds like it was fun! I can't get anyone to go with me and it's not something I want to do by myself. I mean, I live in Memphis - I feel obligated to go! Oh well, I guess I'll have to live vicariously through you!

Katie Leigh said...

Graceland is my most favorite part of being here in Memphis! I'm so glad you liked it! And I had no idea that your parents knew Cathy. I wondered after I saw you all at the temple. How cool is that?

Caitlyn said...

Whoa! I never knew he had that many awards and stuff. He really could have done a lot of good if he hadn't died. It looks like it's fun to visit! If will and I are ever rich and in Memphis we'll have to go see it, too!

Tiff Rudd said...

You convinced us...now we really will visit once while we live here! Sounds much cooler than we thought it would be! Glad you guys had so much fun with your parents here!

Rob, Adrienne, Sam, Ada and Tony said...

Oh wow that's so cool. I've always wanted to go.

Anonymous said...

La premiere Nike [url=http://www.hollistercofrance4s.com]hollister[/url] Eric Koston 2 revet un dessus en daim rouge contraste defective des accents de blanc, la seconde paire affiche une [url=http://www.abercrombiefrancepascher.info]abercrombie pas cher[/url] empeigne grise contraste good enough un swoosh blanc et une semelle en gum. Quant a la troisieme Nike SB Koston 2, elle a un revetement en daim noir contraste banderole un swoosh [url=http://www.louisevuitton.info]sac louis vuitton[/url] infrared et une semelle blanche.
Dans une annee 2004 proces González Abercrombie & Fitch v, la societe a ete accusee de one-sidedness contre les Afro-Americains, [url=http://www.christianlouboutinpascher4s.com]louboutin pas cher[/url] les Latinos, Americains d'origine asiatique, et de partisanship paradigm des femmes en offrant des ventes de plancher postes et des postes de gestion de magasin boundary les Blancs et les entreprises men.The convenu d'un reglement de le recours collectif, qui [url=http://www.hollistercofrance.info]hollister france[/url] exigeait que la societe a payer 4 millions de dollars pail down les Afro-Americains, les Latinos, Americains d'origine asiatique, et les femmes qui ont demande et n'ont pas ete embauches ou ont travaille dans des postes de magasins certaines reviser son embauche, la mesure du rendement et des politiques de nurturing, [url=http://www.hollisterukoutlet6s.com]hollister[/url] de reviser ses procedures internes de plainte, nommer un vice-president de la Diversite, embaucher 25 recruteurs recherchent des candidats minoritaires, cesser la pratique consistant a recruter des employes fraternites et sororites principalement blancs, inclure added de minorites dans du materiel de marketing
Dans les premières années du 21ème siècle, les styles vestimentaires occidentaux avaient, dans une certaine mesure, devenir styles internationaux. Ce processus a commencé des centaines d'années with an accrument of t?t, durant les périodes du [url=http://www.abercrombiefrancesoldes.info]abercrombie france[/url] colonialisme européen. Le processus de diffusion culturelle a perpétué au fil des siècles en tant que sociétés occidentales médias ont pénétré les marchés à travers le monde, diffusion de la magnificence occidentale et de styles. Vêtements de configuration [url=http://www.abercrombiefrancesoldes.info]www.abercrombiefrancesoldes.info[/url] rapide est également devenu un phénomène mondial. Ces vêtements sont moins chers, produits en masse vêtements occidentaux. Don de vêtements usagés en provenance des pays occidentaux sont également livrés à des gens dans les pays [url=http://www.hollisteruksoutlet.co.uk]hollister[/url] pauvres unvaried des organisations caritatives.

The particular pleasurable choice via Abercrombie Outlet is probably the most favored Est la marque centenaire des états-Unis. A & F (Abercrombie & Fitch), avec style, haute qualité et ultra-frais de style de partout aux états-Unis et au Canada, continuent à déborder, provoquant mondiaux nouvelle vogue de nouveaux indicateurs. Marcher dans les rues de l’Amérique style décontracté (casual wear), profondément aimé par les jeunes d’Europe, d’Amérique et d’Asie.treize semaines terminée le 31 Octobre 2009, figurant un bénéfice de 0,21 $ par