October 15, 2007

Monday We started the day touring "Graceland" the home and grounds of Elvis Presley. It was well worth the time and money to see. It was a self guided tour with an audio headset you could listen to and look as long as you wanted, while you took the pictures. He sure had a lot of rooms to entertain people with a lot of sofa's and bars. The basement was finished and there was a lot of memorabilia there of special things like their wedding clothes, Lisa's nursery furniture, etc. From there we went to two more huge buildings that were used for various things over his lifetime. They now store more of the museum items, his outrageous suits he performed in and his many awards, albums and pictures. Lisa Marie's swing set is still standing where she used to play and there are horses in the pasture. It is so large, we thought it would be a lot smaller place, and not so many acres. The swimming pool is rather small, but probably the normal for that period of time. There is a beautiful meditation area where there are statues, a fountain, benches and the marbel covered grave sites of Elvis and his family with an eternal flame going day and night.(pictures) The long white fenced driveway is lined with fresh flower bouquets, pictures and letters from fans, fresh flowers arrive daily. Across the road from His home is both of his planes that you can tour through. His big plane is a Boeing 727 jet, inside there is a kitchen, bedroom and a large room with seats for a lot of people. They said that one day Elvis called the pilot to fire up the plane and go to Colorado because he wanted to take Lisa Marie to the snow when she was a little girl. The other plane is a leer jet for smaller trips.