My Road TripFrom Annapolis to Austin (5th & final part)

Graceland is a major money making operation. They've got a set-up across the street from Elvis' house similar to the entrance to an amusement park--ticket windows with different levels of passes that you can buy, multiple gift shops, photo booths, and places to eat. We opted for the cheapest pass which got us an audio tour through the house and grounds and a special exhibit about his comeback tour after the Army. We boarded a shuttle bus and were driven across the street and up the long driveway. It was raining pretty hard so we didn't bother getting any pictures of the gate or the front of the house. Our first impression was that it wasn't nearly as big as we had expected. It wasn't a small house, but I've been in much bigger homes than Graceland. Now the decor, that's a whole different ball game. The house has been left as it was decorated when he died in the late 70's and the audio tour was narrated in large part by Lisa Marie. We weren't allowed to use flash so my pictures didn't turn out very good in the house. The room that I most wanted to show pictures of was the "Jungle Room" but it was pretty dark and those came out horrible. This was basically his den and it was complete with a waterfall built into the wall, fur lampshades, and lots of tiki style decorations. Here's a picture that I found online. It'll give you some idea, but doesn't quite capture how wild it was.

The tour also went through separate buildings where his father had the business office and what used to be stables. Vernon's office is left as it was, but the stables have been converted into trophy rooms with awards that he won, gold records, memorabilia from his movies, TV appearances and his wedding. Another building that we toured held a racquetball court (now converted into a display room for many sequin covered jumpsuits) and a rec room where you could watch the game through a glass wall. The last stop on the tour was out by the pool (again much smaller than I would have figured) where he and his parents have been laid to rest.

Not my favorite stop on our road trip, but I'm glad we went. Its one of those things you just have to do if you are in or near Memphis.

After Graceland Andy and I hit the road and made it through Arkansas and into Texas by the end of Friday.

Saturday

Saturday we finished our road trip and made it to Austin by early afternoon. We went straight to the seminary, stopped by the community center and picked up the keys to my apartment so we could check it out. We found a welcome note and a bucket full of helpful items (snacks, a couple hangers, 6' extension cord, paper towels, toilet paper, etc) on my kitchen counter by a group of students calling themselves the "Bucketeers." Very cool to be welcomed like that and yet another affirmation that I have chosen well with were I will be studying.

Andy was flying out on Sunday morning, so we grabbed a hotel close to the airport. We had planned on heading downtown so that he could see a little of my new city but we were both exhausted from our trip and fell asleep.

Sunday

After I dropped Andy off at the airport I drove myself (first time behind the wheel in 6 days) over to Auditorium Shores to see the Stevie Ray Vaughn statue.

Sorry Elvis fans but SRV is much more of a Rock Legend in my book. (If you want to know why, just watch this performance of Texas Flood live in 1983 at El Mocambo).

For more pictures of our road trip check out this album of photos that I put up on Facebook (you don't need an account to view the album)

Rather than spend another night in a hotel I went out and bought an air mattress so I could stay in my apartment. My POD didn't arrive until Wednesday morning, so I spent three days living in an echo chamber. But now my stuff is here and I'm almost completely set up. I've been meeting other students, learning my way around and starting to feel at home. Here's a bunch of pictures of where I'm living.