August 1, 2005
WOW, what a whirlwind of days. For most of the time since last Weds afternoon I haven't had internet at all. Last night I was in a campground in Nashville that had WiFi, which works, so I caught up a little....but while the page refreshing is fast, the download speed was horrible, so I only downloaded a couple of clips. Tonight I am near Gatlinburg and Dollyworld and have WiFi again, so will try to blog a little. Downloads are SLOOOOW, but did see Mandy.....it was great - I was (and still am) a Barry Manilow fan. He has had a wonderfully long and satisfying career and I hope Clay has the same experience. (As Clay, of course....in his own way).

Last Saturday I was at the Graceland RV Park right next door to the staging area and gift stores for the Graceland Mansion Tour. Very nice place, very clean, highly recommended. In my camping books I always add a rating for the bathroom facilities....LOL. Why don't they do that when they write travel guides? Most important aspect - right behind the scenery and the wildlife watching. This place was spanky clean.

They have the Graceland tour process down pat. Bunch of cattle lined up waiting for the shuttle across the street. I thought they would rush us through the house as it is advertised as a 1/2 hour tour....but they really left us alone with our audio players once we were in the house and we could go as slow or fast as we wanted. I think I was there about 2 hours total. I was never a huge Elvis fan.....I loved his music but I was never fan girly over him at all. Don't know why really. Seeing all the personal items and household goods, etc. was sort of surreal....imagine hoards of people lining up to see your dining room 30 yrs after you are gone...just odd somehow, but fascinating at the same time.

A couple of pictures, should be clickable if I did it right. The Living Room -






We saw the downstairs and basement only, the upstairs is still private. Dining room was stunning, the kitchen big and according to my audio always in use...downstairs is an eclectic TV room where several TV's were always in play and a pool room where the walls & ceiling are drapped in a paisley cloth.

Won't go into it all, but it was very worth it - there was Vernon's office and a separate building with all the gold records and awards....and the memoriabilia from the movies and his years in the army.

The grounds are kept beautifully.






The Racquetball room contains the piano he played at the night before he died...he played for some friends that night. A lot of his costumes from the Vegas area are displayed here, they must weigh a ton each, they are so embellished. It is sad that he went that direction, the younger Elvis was so much more appealing.






And, of course, at the end are the graves of Elvis, his mom and dad, his grandmother and a memorial placque for his twin brother who died at birth. I got a little weepy here for some reason and it was interesting to see a man who could only have been a baby when Elvis died stretch out through the fence and reverently touch the stone of Elvis' grave. To lighten the mood, here's a little whoopsie picture I took of Elvis' grave. Yes, I use my Clay lanyard as a camera strap. If you click on the pic and then expand it you can read the inscription on the stone.






Ha. Tennessee is a beautiful, green state. Very humid and I have been expecting thunderstorms but have been very lucky to have blue skies for the trip.

Can't wait for Greenville!!!

Cindy