Day 5

Memphis TN- We woke up and headed over to see Graceland, the home of Elvis Presley. The exterior of the home and the grounds were beautiful, but the inside was WHOA. That is something else.  I cannot even begin to describe the outlandish gaudiness of the interior.  The home is exactly how Elvis left it when he died in 1977, but even for 70's decor, it was still over the top.  I underestimated how flamboyant Elvis was until I saw his home and costumes.  During the home tour, there was a recording of his daughter Lisa Marie talking about Elvis.  She said he only met guests downstairs (we were not allowed upstairs), and he was always fully dressed with Jewels and all when he came down.  She said he jingled when he came down the stairs he wore so much Jewelry.  Curtis's favorite part was his TV room, but I think my favorite part was the dining room.  The rest was just extremely flamboyant.



We then went out to his backyard where there were some other buildings, a trophy room, racquetball court (which actually had more trophies and costumes).  I was surprised at how many trophies, gold records, etc he had.  He was also extremely generous with his money.  There were several cashed checks of $1000 each to charities he had given to.  The city of Memphis also gave him a huge award for his generosity. I liked seeing the office where his dad and assistants worked.  It was fun to see all the old office equipment from the 70s.  His yard was beautiful, and Lisa Marie's swing set was still there.  It was very similar to the ones my friends had from the '70s.  His pool was beautiful, but not very big.  Then we ended up at his grave, with his parents and grandma.  It was fun to see it all and I'm glad we did.  Now I can scratch that off my bucket list.

Next, we were headed to Huntsville, AL to see Curtis' friends Travis and Amanda Howard. Curtis knows them from his Real Estate Group. We drove through a corner of Mississippi which we were very excited to see and experience.  We just wanted to enjoy and feel the country folk as they live.  We ate some good southern food at "Grandma's Iron Skillet.  I couldn't barely understand the employees in the restaurant but we loved the experience of being around them. We were surprised to see more than a few armadillos dead on the side of the road.

We finally reached Huntsville, AL, and parked the RV in front of Howard's beautiful new home. They said cousin Ed of the Griswolds had arrived.   They were happy to see Curtis and meet the fam.  We went to dinner with them at Moe's BBQ.  Amanda had just gotten a new sporty convertible Mercedes Benz.  We went in two cars the kids rode in Amanda's new sporty number.  The kids loved it.  Trey was laughing and saying, "this is the most epicist car,"  Amanda thought he was hilarious.  Back at the house, Trey loved playing with their pool table.  He played by himself for quite a while, shooting the balls into the pockets. The kids also enjoyed their pet bunny "peppermint" the frogs in their backyard, and their dog Bear.  Everyone had a good time that night.

Graceland TV room

Graceland Dining room

Graceland Jungle Room

Graceland Kitchen.

Bathroom inside Elvis' airplane

Record/Trophy room at Graceland