Things I own: My husband's heart, a dog that annoys the hell out of me, and more books than I have shelf space for.
Things I don't own: Jasper and the characters we love.
Thanks to Kim Rathbone: I heart you hard woman
Also a very big thanks to my mama who helped me with this chapter. She's been to Graceland at least five times and has a room dedicated to Elvis.
Link for the banner made by christag_banner on my profile.
-OB-
Previously on Our Box
When we got up the next morning we started off like we did when we left Savannah. We packed our bags, checked out, and loaded up the car. I got in on the driver's side this time as Bella punched in the city for the next leg of the trip on the GPS.
"All set," She said hitting the last button.
I nodded and backed out of the spot, laughing when Cartman from South Park told me which way to turn. Listening to him all the way to Memphis was going to be interesting.
Eight hours later...
Bella
"Okay. What I don't understand is how you got lost with the GPS." I said, trying unsuccessfully to hold in my laughter.
I didn't feel bad about it either. It was completely justified since he gave me shit for getting lost and now here he was driving around aimlessly too.
"Because Cartman is an idiot and decided to yell at me."
"Well, if you hadn't have made that illegal u-turn he wouldn't have had to."
"And if you hadn't have decided you couldn't wait to go to the bathroom at the next exit I wouldn't have had to make the u-turn. So, really this is all your fault." He said, grinning now himself.
"I didn't turn the GPS off and threaten to throw it out the window. So, it's your fault."
He opened and closed his mouth a few times with no sound coming out before realizing that I was right. "Fine, it's my fault. Will you help me find where we are?"
I nodded and turned the GPS back on. Since, we were in Memphis already it didn't take long for it to recalculate the route to the hotel.
We pulled into the parking garage of The Peabody about 10 minutes later.
How neither one of us saw the big ass building with the big ass red neon sign on the top until then is beyond me.
However, my wonder at that was replaced with complete awe as we stepped inside. On the outside it looked like an old factory, but inside was gorgeous. They actually had a fountain in the middle of the lobby with a red carpet leading up to it and over three small steps at it. And I swear live ducks swimming in it.
While we were getting checked in we heard all about the amenities which included five bars or restaurants on top of 24 hour room service, a salon and spa, an indoor pool, a fitness center, a couple gift shops, and a FedEx office. The last one would come in handy, since we'd decided to ship out the souvenirs from this stop and the last. That way we didn't have so much to keep up with or run the risk of over flowing the car.
We finally made it up to the room and after ordering room service we crashed.
The next morning we got up early and headed for Graceland. It was a good choice since Jasper was a musician and loved most of Elvis's songs. He wasn't my favorite, but I liked him okay.
Once we'd parked we bought the VIP tour and received wristbands as our passes. It would allow us to see more than a normal tour.
The first part of the tour was the house and was audio-guided.
When you went in the front door the living room was to the right. It was beautiful. The carpet and furniture was white. There was a black grand piano toward the back of the room separated from the rest by glass peacock feather partitions.
From there we went down a hall to his parents' bedroom. It was white with purple bedding and accents.
We moved on to the dining room next. It had a table set with six place settings, a large chandelier hanging over the table, and the coolest floor. I think it was white marble with a black marble inlay. It kind of looked like and was the size of a large oriental rug.
The next stop was the kitchen and I have to say the kitchen was ugly. It was dark with bar style lights hanging from the ceiling. It even had carpet.
Thankfully, we didn't stay there long and moved off to the right to the Jungle room. It too was ugly, but still kind of cool. It had green shag carpet on the floor and ceiling. The wood was dark with brown fabric, but had dragon heads carved on the arms of the chairs and couch. A waterfall was on one whole wall.
The Billard room, however, was just as ugly as the kitchen. It had weird fabric on the walls and ceiling and matched the couch. The carpet was blue as was the pool table felt. The audio tour pointed out a scratch on the table that Elvis had made.
From there we went to the TV Room. I think it was my favorite. It was yellow with a black design on the walls; a white lightening bolt going through it. A mirrored ceiling showed the room in reverse. Three TVs sat in one wall that Elvis used to watch all the football games on. The couch was a big black wraparound with yellow and white pillows. There was also two black ottomans and a mirrored cube coffee table. It had a white ceramic monkey sitting on top of it. I kind of wanted the monkey.
That room ended the main house tour, but before we left we went through and saw Elvis's dad's office. It looked like a normal office with desks, a couch, and pictures on the wall, but a small TV sat in one corner, playing Elvis as he talked about coming home from the Army.
After that we moved out to the Meditation Garden where he was buried.
"His middle name is spelled wrong." Jasper whispered as soon as we stopped to look at it.
"Really?" I whispered back.
"Yeah. It's supposed to be A-R-O-N."
"Huh...you'd think they would have gotten that right." He nodded and then we moved on.
Because we had the VIP tour bracelets we were able to see a small room at the back of the house. In it was different memorabilia like a living room suit, clothes, pictures, a saddle that belonged to Priscilla, and other things.
From there we boarded a small shuttle and was taken around to the back of the lot to see the Chapel. You couldn't go in, but still it was cool. We then headed over to see his two airplanes, the Lisa Marie and the Lockheed Jet Star.
After we were done we crossed the street to look at the rest. First though, we decided to stop for a quick lunch at Rockabilly's Diner.
Once we'd eaten we headed over to the Elvis's car museum and let me tell you he loved cars. The museum was set up like a tree-lined street with a drive-in theater. There were 33 cars, including his pink Cadillac, a Ferrari, an Eldorado, a Rolls Royce, a limo, and a tractor.. Jasper was in awe and especially liked the Harleys and Blackhawk. We also saw a go-cart, a dune buggy, three-wheelers, and a pedal car.
In another museum we found outfits from his many different shows as well as things he'd worn in different movies. Plus, his many gold and platinum records.
I was absolutely amazed by just how much stuff you could see. His death had been such a tragedy and you could see, by looking at everyone that were visiting, how much he was missed.
When we finished looking at everything in the museums we headed over to the gift shop.
Jasper chose an Elvis Mr. Potato Head for both Micah and Marcus. They were so freaking cute. For Lily, I picked out a white teddy bear with a pink leather jacket on.
We got both Rose and Charlotte a key chain and then a zippo for Emmett. Peter, however, loved Elvis as much as Jasper did so we picked him out a large throw blanket.
For myself, I chose a TCB anklet in silver. Jasper decided on a t-shirt and a zippo as well.
We didn't buy anything for our box, instead deciding to put our tour bracelets inside.
Once we'd paid it was time to go and we headed back to the hotel. After putting everything in the room and our bracelets in our box, Jasper and I split up. He went down to the fitness center while I went to the salon and had my nails done.
When I was finished I returned to the room and then Jasper and I went down to the Peabody Corner Bar for dinner.
After getting settled at a table and ordering Jasper asked, "Are you having fun so far?"
"Yeah." I answered smiling. "I'm really looking forward to the next stop though."
"I would be shocked if you weren't. How long is the drive again?"
"I think about three hours or so. As long as we don't get lost again."
He laughed and shook his head, waiting until the waitress had set down our food before he said, "We're changing that thing in morning. I refuse to listen to that annoying little cartoon shit again."
"Okay, I think they have Sean Connery, but I know they have Yoda and Mr. T though."
"We are so doing Yoda."
"All right." I smiled and dug into my hamburger and fries.
We made chitchat for the rest of dinner and then returned to the room for the night, renting a movie that I didn't make it halfway through.
The next morning before we checked out Jasper and I carried the souvenirs for our friends down to the FedEx place. We wrote a note to tell who got what before boxing everything up and sending it out.
Once that was done we went back to the room, grabbed our stuff, and checked out. It took us a minute in the parking garage since I had to change the GPS voice. When I had it set to Yoda I programmed in the address to our next hotel in Vicksburg, Mississippi; excitement making me smile.
Graceland had been for Jasper, but this next stop was for me and what I loved to create.
-OB-
Well how was this stop? Review and let me know.
Pictures of the different Graceland rooms as wells as The Peabody Building and the fountain with the ducks are on my blog. Link for it is in my profile.