The museum itself was a let down. We were expecting more ornamental metal art (thus the name Metal Museum) but the inside housed mostly jewelry and paintings. The gift shop was the best part of the inside of the museum, but very pricey. Admission was only $5, so it wasn't that great of a loss, but still...
The grounds surrounding the museum were more to our liking. The best part? You can visit the grounds for FREE. There were funky sculptures everywhere. Currently there is an outdoor exhibit called "Meet Meat Cookware" which is comprised of unusual (working!) grills. Apparently at the open house of the exhibit, they had a party and barbecued on the sculptures! The picture above is a grill made out of an old rusted truck. You can see the grill on the front and the bed has a built-in picnic table! 
The most colorful statue there. Strange, but I liked it.
Here are my parents in front of a giant metal daffodil.
Probably the best part of our visit was sitting on the shady gazebo (completely formed from scrap pieces of metal from an old building) that overlooks the Mississippi River. It was beautiful. I hope to take some of my friends back there for a picnic on the bluff amongst the crazy sculptures, it should be 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!
It's time to play catch-up. We had a lot going on this last week, so there are 3 new posts, all with lots of pictures (because we all know that's what everyone wants to see anyway).
