Memphis, Tennessee – 2008 Road Trip (Blast from the Past)

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This is a Blast from the Past post. These posts chronicle our travels and other life events before we started blogging!  These posts are usually heavy on the photos, but lighter on the narrative text.  

In October 2008, Ken and I took our first big road trip together. We drove from DC > Atlanta > New Orleans > San Antonio > Memphis > DC.

Graceland

Memphis was our shortest stop on the road trip. We were only staying there for two nights, so we only had time to see a few of the biggest highlights. I’d definitely love to go back!

So, one of those big highlights, of course, is the home of Elvis Presley, Graceland.

 

 

I had some definite sticker shock on the tour option pricing. I think we opted for the “Platinum” option. It was suddenly quite clear why Elvis is the highest paid dead celebrity (at the time!  He has since been bumped by Michael Jackson).

 

 

The first floor of the home is open for touring. The audio tour, which was included in the admission price, was really helpful.

 

 

 

 

 

You could also tour the basement

 

 

After the mansion, there were several other buildings to tour, including a few buildings serving as museums. This building was the old office, where employees would do things like sort Elvis’ fan mail.

 

 

And the museums were well organized and had (obviously) a lot of great exhibits.

 

 

 

 

 

At the end of the Graceland tour, you see the Presley family cemetery. Did you know that Elvis was a twin? His twin died at birth though, but there is a plaque memorializing him at the cemetery. There were signs posted that said flowers arrive daily from around the world to be put on Elvis’ grave.

 

 

Elvis Presley Automobile Museum

A short shuttle bus ride from the Graceland Mansion was the Elvis Presley Automobile Museum. Elvis had a huge collection of vehicles.

 

 

 

 

And, we even got to tour his old airplane.

 

 

After our tour, we were so hungry! We found an amazing Memphis-style BBQ joint!

 

Sun Studio

Our next stop was a guided tour at Sun Studio, which touts itself as the birthplace of Rock N’ Roll. Johnny Cash, Elvis Presley, Carl Perkins, and Jerry Lee Lewis all recorded at Sun Studio.

 

 

 

It was in this room that one evening, Johnny Cash, Elvis Presley, Carl Perkins, and Jerry Lee Lewis all started performing together unexpectedly.

 

The session was photographed, and the newspaper published the photo with the headline “Million Dollar Quartet.” It became an iconic phrase of the time period describing the musicians.

 

 

The guide explained that very little in the room has changed. In fact, you can tell that the wall in the photo of the Million Dollar Quartet is still the same wall that the photograph now hangs from!

 

Unfortunately, that was pretty much it for our time in Memphis. It was the end of our two-week road trip, and as with many of our trips, we’re always the most tired at the end, and we usually end up getting lazier at the end.

We got started on our drive back home to DC the next morning, and the sky was so gorgeous as we left Memphis!

 

I was ready to plan our next road trip!

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