Tennessee Travels Part 1: Walkin’ in Memphis

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Hey y’all!
Today is the day!
After months of waiting, counting down, and packing (ok, maybe just hours on that one!), our Chicago trip is finally here! Because there is going to be way to much fun happening there for me to take time to blog, I’ve got several posts scheduled for while I’m gone.
While I’m gone to Chicago, I wanted to share a little about the wonderful trip I took two summers ago with my Momma and my Mom-mom to Tennessee. It was a pretty fantastic trip, and I’ve briefly mentioned it a few times here, so I thought I’d do several posts about that trip. Let me tell ya, it was definitely an adventure!
Before I get into my first Tennessee post, I wanted to let y’all know that I’m guest posting for my wonderful friend Lindsey today! I’m sharing a few of my favorite summertime songs. Be sure to check it out!
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In 2009, I really wanted to go on a fun summer trip out of Oklahoma and different than the usual Dallas get-away trip. I’d been wanting to go back to Tennessee since the first time I went back in high school. We decided to go back and take my Mom-mom this time. She was a super big Elvis fan when she was a teenager, so we knew we HAD to take her to Graceland.
The trip started way down in Small Town, Oklahoma. I should first mention that none of us fly, so anywhere we go has to be within reasonable driving distance. It’s about an 8+ hour drive to Memphis (minus bathroom breaks), and another 3 hours to Nashville (again, minus bathroom breaks). Reasonable driving distance? I’m not so sure anymore.
After we’d been on the road about an hour, we stopped for a potty break. We knew we’d be taking lots of pictures this trip, but had no idea they would start an hour down the road. We walked into the bathroom and saw this.
No, you aren’t hallucinating. That’s a restaurant booth INSIDE the bathroom stall.
The only word I have for this is why. Why?
Many, many, many hours later, we pulled into Memphis!
We stopped in at the Welcome Center to see a couple of friends.
Mr. Elvis Presley
Not quite tall enough to reach!
We hung out with BB King for a bit too.
We drove around trying to find some dinner, got lost in the ghetto, the GPS yelled at us, I yelled at the GPS, and finally, we gave up and went to our hotel. Our trip was off to a…uh, great start.
The next day, we headed to Graceland!

Waiting for our tour to begin

Let’s have a little talk about Elvis right now. Have we had this conversation before? In case you didn’t know, I don’t buy into the lie that Elvis is dead. Seriously, I’m not joking here at all. My theory is that he was tired of the constant attention and scrutiny that he faked his death to get out of the spotlight.
I believe that he still lives at Graceland in his room upstairs. The upstairs is completely off-limits, even to the people who work at Graceland. Plus, the house is randomly closed by the family at different times. Why is that? Because he’s there!
Oh, did I mention I have proof? We saw him. No, I’m not crazy. We saw him.
This man was walking around down in the horse pasture. He’s definitely too old to be working there, plus he was not dressed like any of the workers. He looks to be about the age that Elvis should be, and he was in an area that is not a part of the tour. Who else could it be? (And no, I’m not interested in any other theories. Just let me believe it was him!)

We ended the tour at the grave sites. Elvis, his twin brother who died at birth, his parents, and his aunt are all buried at Graceland. We stopped first at the grave of Elvis’ twin brother who died. As we were leaning over to look, we heard these words come out of my Mom-mom’s mouth: “Wonder what kind of grass that is…” Seriously? People were crying, CRYING and she’s admiring the foilage. I cannot tell you how many times we’ve laughed about this since then.

We had such a wonderful time at Graceland! It was so cool to go back, and it was really great to experience it with Mom-mom.
Up next, Down Home with the Neelys!

Comments

  4. says

    I like your theory of Elvis! I don’t know anything about him or his death to come up with my own conclusion but would that be cool if he faked his own death? I hope so because that is way too epic.

    The thing your mom said about the grass cracked me up. Also, I LOVE your hair dark!!

    Reply

  5. says

    1st – The GPS yelled at you, you yelled at the GPS… yeah…. I TOTALLY get that part. Happens to me a LOT!

    2nd – I totally agree with your theory! I’m with you on it AND yes, that probably is Elvis walking around. And it looks like he has a cane, which, with all the pelvic action he did when dancing, he’d probably need a cane.

    3rd – Your Mom-mom is hilarious. I want to go to Graceland sometime… I love Elvis… Joey doesn’t share that love so much… but gosh, he’s not The King for no reason, RIGHT!??!?!?! ;)

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  7. says

    Love the bathroom picture of your mom and mom-mom. I laughed out loud!! And Ashley – I’m totally with you on the Elvis theory. Totally. I knew I liked you. :)

    Reply

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