Blaine Voyage

“We’re going to Graceland, Graceland, Memphis, Tennessee”

This was the only song stuck in my head a week(ish) ago when we were on our way to-

“GRACELAND, GRACELAND, MEMPHIS, TENNESSEE”

-Yup, Graceland! Home of Elvis the Pelvis. The King of Rock and Roll. And, yes, the famous Jungle Room.

So we arrived at Graceland on October 3rd, and took a guided iPad tour (what has become of this world) of the mansion and took quite a few pictures. The house was surprisingly smaller than I thought it would be and the planes (yes, planes) were bigger than I expected. 

So inside the house we saw the living room, dining room, kitchen, the normal stuff. None of the rooms really looked normal though. Let me say this: Elvis had a… distinct taste in interior design and I would not have hired him as my decorator. The pictures below are the living room, his parents’ bedroom, dining room, and kitchen.

Next we went down to Graceland’s basement. And, since this is Graceland, the staircase was COMPLETELY MIRRORED! Well, almost. The walls and ceiling were all mirrored (the floor was not). Next we looked at his TV/rec/family room that was beautifully decorated in navy blue and neon yellow. Did I mention that the red room had 3 TVs, a mirrored ceiling again, and a mirror paneled fireplace? Well, once we had our fill of the creepy monkey statue in the rec room we then walked out to the hallway and into the pool room. So. Cool. The walls were covered with fabric. It’s hard to explain, but the walls have this patterned fabric all folded on the walls and ceiling. Much better than mirrors if you ask me. So first up is the mirrored staircase, then the rec room with the blue and yellow. Then is the pool room with some awesome fabric walls and the last two pictures are the ceiling of the pool room.

Well then we came back up to the first floor on a different staircase and straight into the jungle. Jungle Room, that is. I had never heard of it until then but I see why it was world famous. Wow. Animal prints, green shag carpeting on the floor and ceiling, and a uniquely designed waterfall that was lit up red. It. Was. So. Cool! The second to last picture is of Elvis’s favorite chair and the last is the waterfall.

Then we went outside and saw some of his cars, though not the pink Cadillac, the  backyard, a museum-like part with lots of things the Presley family owned including this awesome royal red couch from previous decor in Graceland. Then we saw the pool and the racquetball building.

Last we went to Elvis’s grave. We also saw his mother’s, father’s, and grandmother’s grave. There is also a small marker for Elvis’s stillborn twin brother. Did you know that his grandma was the last to die out of all of them? Then the tour of Graceland was over. We were done! So we went out to the front, took some pictures, and hitched a shuttle. As we rode through the front gates I got to see all of the pictures and names on the gates and sidewalk. It was pretty cool. Then we were back to the museum part. Bye bye Graceland! 

And as we walked back to the car though the parking lot I thought,

“WE WENT TO GRACELAND, GRACELAND, MEMPHIS, TENNESSEE! WE WENT TO GRACELAND!”

I would like to thank Paul Simon for inspiring this post and our trip to Graceland. I think I probably thank Elvis too.