Family Vacation #2: Graceland

If you know my husband, you know that he is a huge Elvis fan.  I catch him from time to time watching old Elvis movies in our bedroom.  I have been trying to find the right time for us to visit his place over the years.  Every Elvis fan should experience Graceland at least once.  I did a few times growing up and I'll never forget it.  It's an awesome experience!  I thought this year was a perfect opportunity to schedule a tour on our trip since we were heading that way.  Aaron told me that we didn't have to tour Graceland.  He said it wasn't a big deal.  But once he did, he looked at me, hugged me, and then thanked me for making him do it.  It was a great experience for all of us as a family and he has no regrets.  He was simply in awe of the place and excited he finally got a chance to visit Graceland.  Phew, now I feel better.  I'm glad that my persistence pays off sometimes.

When we arrived, we had to put on our head sets and load the shuttle to take us over to the site.  I could tell Aaron was getting more and more excited.  I think the kids enjoyed the shuttle ride more than anything.  Liam, of all people, noticed the pool area right off the bat.  Being a kid who loves water, that didn't shock me.  He wanted to swim in Elvis' pool so bad.  It did look pretty refreshing, no doubt.  Only my kid.  Only my kid.

 

When Elvis' Aunt was still alive, she lived upstairs.  Even though she has passed, they still keep that part of the house blocked off to the public out of respect for the family.

The stairs down to the basement.

Quite a change from where he used to live.

This is the racquet ball room.  He died in the racquet ball bathroom.  That wasn't open to the public either.

The things that I noticed that were different were the Lisa Marie picture at the bottom of the main stair case was moved and a picture of Elvis had replaced it.  The other thing I noticed they changed is you couldn't sit at the piano in his house or sit inside the cars at the museum like you used to.  Everything was roped off.  We had a GREAT time!