Keli travels Memphis part 33 May 2015

Melinda and I only spent SIX hours at Graceland...you know nothing too extravagent or anything...I swear it would  have been longer if we did not need to go to the civil rights museum that same day... ! 

I TOOK SO SO SO SOOOOOOO MANY PICTURES I have had to split up my Graceland posts...which means I might not get my TN pictures done before I go to UT..

 There is a HUGE parking lot... across the street.. we are talking like stadium sized parking lot. 

 CHECK US OUT! This has been on our bucket list for SO LONG.. I texted Melinda in January 2015 and said THIS YEAR ...we are going to Graceland... and we sure as heck did... I love this picture so much....

 so you go in and buy tickets and then get an ipad that is right every one gets an iPad in a heavy duty case that you wear around your neck with a strap. You also have headphones. You ride in a bus across the street to Graceland. I have no idea what year this started but I bet all the locals are SO GRATEFUL ! 

 people waiting in line to get into Graceland.. there are several lines. There is the line to get on the bus. Then you sit on the bus in front of Graceland. Then you stand in another line.. then you stand in this line. 

 I have told my friends Marian and Vern that if you have a couple of lions outside your house that is how you know that you have REALLY arrived... ... obviously Elvis had arrived....

 this is right after we walked in.. Elvis liked stained glass... 

 Elvis living room.. told you he liked stained glass.. John Stamos gave us the tour.. so you just pressed different buttons on your iPad and it took you through the house at your own pace with John Stamos giving the tour. You could go as fast or as slow as you wanted. There were staff members standing at different places making sure you did not jump the ropes or things like that.. but John Stamos gave you the whole tour.. Have Mercy..

 Elvis' dining room. 

 Elvis HAD to have a TV in EVERY ROOM and TVs at EVERY angle.. you know so if he was sitting somewhere different he could still see the TV...This is one in the dining room..

 Elvis' mothers bedroom.

 Elvis mother's bathroom with the wallpaper that she picked out. 

 stairs going to the upstairs you are NOT allowed upstairs at Graceland. They do not want people to focus on his death or to be too fixated on the bathroom where he died. 

 the kitchen.. for a long time you could not tour the kitchen at Graceland because Elvis' grandma Gladys still lived on the property and used the kitchen.. She has passed so we can now tour it. 

 Elvis heard that President Johnson or President Ford or some president had three TVs so he felt like he needed three also.. I did not see the TV he shot out in Vegas .. hhahahah 

 this is downstairs in some yellow and blue room..

 another view 

 another view 

 they had a mirror on the ceiling.. here I am .. I am wearing my ipad and listening to John Stamos..

 Elvis' pool table room 

 the ceiling in Elvis' pool table room.. Elvis was REALLY into decorating his ceilings.. mirrors carpets whatever... he did not have plain ceilings..

 more of the pool table room..

 more

 more

 more..

 John Stamos said "imagine if this pool table could talk the memories it would have to share" ... They said this exact same thing at The Willie Nelson museum.. I guess a lot of people imagine if pool tables could talk. 

 we had to go up and down these stairs that were all mirrored like this.. Here are Melinda and I taking selfies.. they had staff at the top and the bottom cause they are narrow and make some people dizzy... 

 lets not forget about this GREEN shag wall.. I do not even remember where this was in there.. but it was a green shag carpeted WALL and I totally needed a picture..

last but not least we went to THE JUNGLE ROOM!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 

he had chairs like this

 jungle room

 more jungle room

 another way to know you have arrived you have some sort of waterfall or pond in your house...

 this couch though...

 coffee table..

 the ceiling...

 the house was also frozen in time to when Lisa Marie was a little girl and Pricilla was his wife....

 

they totally ignored the fact that He had two other GFs after Pricilia including Bruce/Caitlyn Jenner's ex-wife and another lady that lived there and found him when he passed...

along the way with John Stamos, Pricilla and Lisa Marie shared their memories...

it was like those other two ladies never existed! 

So that is Graceland part 1 

Keli travels Memphis part 32 May 2015

Melinda and I got settled into our hotel. 

It was SO GHETTO. 

tons of stuff was missing.. the bedspread was so thin..

this place is probably rented out by the hour..

but it had AC and it was safer and better than tent camping. 

I went to the front desk where the lady that worked there had her kids sitting in the lobby watching TV... and asked her if she knew of anywhere we could go out to eat.. she directed me to some chain... I said no, 

we want something more local...

more ELVIS...

she said well there is this place Marlowe's they will come pick you up in a pink Cadillac...

WHAT... 

SOLD..

I went back to the room and told Melinda.. we  were super excited!!!! 

HERE IT IS COMING TO GET US!!! I could not believe that something this cool came to a ghetto hotel like that.. but then again that is the only thing around there..

 Melinda and I .. It was both of our first time in a limo!!!! 

 outside of the restaurant ...

 where we ate..

added bonus! Guy has been there! 

I got this BBQ spaghetti.. it was good but not good together.. but everything else I got was DELISH so I was OK..

Our waiter was named Fred and he said that " I was so hot that he wanted to move to VA with his 10 kids to be with me..

then he said he was just kidding he really had 11..

He asked me what kind of drink I wanted and I said nothing alcholic.. he said you want something that will get you there.. I said no.. I do not want to go there... he said how about something that will get you there part way.. I said no I do not want to go at all...

 they also had bad grammar there...

 and this is a replica...

 BUT THIS WAS REAL!!!!!!!!

our limo driver back was racist.. like well welcome to the south...

and I could not buy a magnet cause the gift shop only took cash..

BUT DO NOT GET ME WRONG.. I am not complaining WE GOT PICKED UP IN A PINK CADILLAC AND ATE AT A COOL PLACE! 

one of our favorite things we did for sure!!!!

Keli travels Memphis TN part 31 May 2015

Melinda and I rolled into Memphis later in the evening. A lot of people told me Memphis was a ghetto.. but OMGOSH.. I HAD NO IDEA...

I barely saw a whole car almost every car I saw was full of rust or had smoke coming out of it or the door was blue and the rest was red some junk like that. 

I have no idea what it was like when Elvis lived there but wow... it is run down now.. at least in his area. 

We pulled up to the gates of Graceland and people had signed all over the place that they had been there. 

 There is a historical marker. This makes me wonder how many singers have their own historical marker. I am almost positive I remember that Patsy Cline does in Winchester, VA. 

 I think that it used to be in style to get your gates all decked out .. like YOU NEED TO KNOW AND RECOGNIZE someone famous lives here... I saw this some on the celebrity homes tour.. SOME because well people now a days do not want people to know they live there..I think there might have been more rags to riches stories back in the day.. like NOW THAT I AM RICH I MUST DO EVERYTHING I CAN TO SHOW THAT.. like get a gate like this..now it is almost like your parents are rich and somewhat famous so that is a springboard into you being famous..

 me in front of the gates.. people have signed all over those bricks..

 close up of me. 

We then drove around to find a hotel. They were ALL the same..There is one expensive one The Heartbreak Hotel but that is like $100 a night.  The rest were cheap and fully decked out in Elvis..they were ALL BOOKED we then moved on to cheap ones with no Elvis..

We finally picked on that had free wifi that did not look TOO ghetto... and here is the catch the wifi was free cause it did not work... .......

I felt so cool standing by those gates.. Melinda and I had talked about going to Graceland MANY TIMES.. I had talked about going many times.. and WE MADE IT! ..

I feel like every American needs to go once! 

It is so cool to think that Elvis once stood outside those gates and gave people gifts and such! 

Keli travels part 30 Lynchburg, TN May 2015

OK.. I do not drink... I have no desire to drink. but I gotta tell you The Jack Daniels Distillary gave such an amazing tour and I am so glad that we went! 

 Here I am outside the visitors center. 

 which was dedicated on my bday! 

 I felt like I need a picture by every statue I see...

 Melinda and I by the statue at the entry way..which as you can see is almost identical to the statue above, they are both in the visitors center. 

We looked around the visitors center and saw cool things like

 Jack Daniel's bottles through the years. 

 then we walked over to the town of Lynchburg which is ALL JACK DANIELS... like EVERYTHING THERE IS JACK DANIELS... I played checkers with this statue... 

 I saw a hillbilly cell phone...

 moonshine pickles and possum sauce.

 Jack Daniels barrels to decorate your home with..

Then we walked back over to take the tour. The tour guide was so interesting. He was also a salesman.. He made you WANT to drink Jack Daniels.. I mean it is all organic and natural you know. We saw and heard so many interesting things. 

 like Jack Daniel sprained his toe on this safe and it gave him an infection which he never took care of and he later died! 

 the fire truck they still use if anything happens

 they make all the barrels that they age Jack Daniels in there. 

 all the water that is in Jack Daniels comes from this spring. it is so nice and cool when you get close to it. 

 we toured this building. We could not take pictures in there though because the flash from our cameras might ignite something.

 you can buy a single barrel of Jack Daniels for just under 10 grand ish... and get your name on the wall. They offered us that option. 

 after the tour we went into the tasting room which is on the right. Melinda was able to taste three or four different kinds and the guy told her all about how to taste them.. and when to drink them and stuff like this one is for sitting in your backyard out by the pool... because we all have backyards with pools right ? 

 I went over to their bottle shop during the tasting since I do not drink. It is called a bottle shop because Lynchburg, TN is in a dry county. So they just sell commerative bottles, you get the Jack Daniels for FREE! hahahahh 

 I got this one for my friend. the salesman tried REALLY hard to get me to buy another bottle. He said "Don't you like him???" I mean how will this look sitting on his shelf when you can only see white or only see rabbit he needs two boxes so he can sit it on his shelf and you can see white AND rabbbit. I said well um he does not need that.. the salesman said so you are going to inconvenince this poor man by having to put his box at an angle so you can see both.. I said yes.. he will just have to be inconveninced that is all there is to it..

 Here it is with out the box. I tried to get the bottle engraved but they said they do not engrave cheap $40 dollar bottles  like that. So I took my cheap bottle and went on..

 I did get this cool bag too. 

We walked back into town and looked around there for a bit and bought some souvenirs before we left. 

 

When Melinda and I were walking back to the car I told her how apparently I do not care about my friend at all because I want to inconvience him by not buying him two bottles so now he has to sit that box at an angle..

She said do you think that he even cares about the box.. I said I doubt it he will probably just recycle it.. I mean it is not like he has a shelf or anything..

When I got back home I gave it to him and when he saw it ... he said THIS IS THE COOLEST BOX EVER... !!!! I am going to put it on my shelf and keep it forever! 

for a second I thought oh no.. did I inconvenince him then I thought nah... I spoil him a lot..