Monday Memories: Graceland & Memphis
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Our Elvis Experience
I'm not a real Elvis fan. I have seen some of his movies. I have heard his songs, yet I am more fascinated and curious by the popularity of Elvis. Which is why I wanted to tour Graceland. Elvis lived larger than life. He had his own style, and wore flamboyant clothing that on any other man would be construed as being gay. But Elvis carried it off with ease.
Just about any souvenir or item you can think of has been Elvis-tized. I found an Elvis shaped cookie cutter at one of the many gift shops across the street from Graceland. It's almost surreal. Our tour to the mansion was on a rainy day. When we got inside the house I was amazed at how small it really felt, but then we were only allowed to walk through hallways and look into rooms behind a velvet rope. The Jungle Room had to be the weirdest. All of the walls were carpeted in a thick green pile. Even the stair tower. The kitchen was preserved from the 70s. Olive appliances, yellow and orange. A special building housed Elvis' records and suits. I always thought he wore polyester jumpsuits. Turns out that they were really a fine wool blend. My favorite was the gold lame suit. Found Downtown One of the most curious things we found was a street named November 6th Street. That just happens to be Pooky's birthday. It's just an alley that suddenly ends and then picks up again on the other side of buildings. I didn't find out about the history behind the name until a couple of years later.
Duck March
I had heard about the famous Peabody Hotel marching ducks. Twice a day the ducks march: in the morning they descend from their mallard condo and swim in the hotel's fountain. In the evening they march back up to their penthouse and do whatever it is that ducks do.The hotel was grand and I wish we could have stayed there. We had fun exploring all of the stuff that was open to the public. I was amazed at how many people came to see the ducks march. It's quite the tourist attraction!
Real Barbecue Memphis is known as being the place to go to eat barbecue. So we grabbed some local brochures and decidedt o try barbecue at a place called Neely's. I was new to the world of barbecue so I had no idea what wet or dry ribs meant. I only knew I wanted ribs. Lots and lots of ribs!
Looking back on our visit to Memphis, I would now want to eat at other barbcues because I can't get enough of slow cooked meat and secret formula barbecue sauces. We left the state of Tennessee and drove through Arkansas on our way to stop at Mansfield, Missouri, the final home of Laura Ingalls Wilder, which will be next week's Monday Memories. Links to other Monday Memories |
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I really enjoyed reading this, because I'm a true traveller and this was like cyber-travelling *lol* Great post.
I've been thinking of writing something from all our trips, we'll se if I eventually do.
I'll sure be back to read next mondays memory :-)
Oh, and the BBQ.... I'm drooling heavily now!!!!!!