Pictures of Graceland (and a REALLY funny video)

We've had an amazing couple of days; I won't be able to tell all the details in one post. Right now I'm writing this from a Microtel in Pigeon Forge, Tennessee. I'm not sure we're going to make Dollywood since we're running out of time and still have a couple of stops to make before we arrive in NY.

On Tuesday we toured Graceland and even if you're not a huge Elvis fan, it's really quite interesting and worth the trip. We opted for the deluxe tour, which included an exhibit of his cars and access to his planes. With our AAA discount, it was only $31 each. They give you headphones when the tour starts and the exhibits are very well done.

Here's the outside of Graceland Mansion. Nowadays, with all the McMansions that have sprung up everywhere, the size of Elvis' house wasn't striking at all.


Here's the living room.


And the dining room.


This is where Elvis made his peanut butter and banana sandwiches.


Here's the piano Elvis played the day he died.


The mansion wasn't the only thing that was smaller than I imagined. Here are some outfits from the Fat Elvis days--they don't look big at all! Even Fat Elvis was no James Gandolfini.


I hope I didn't ruin it for you before when I told you he died.
(Or did he...)


By the end I was kind of Elvis-ed out, and there were times I was wishing there was such thing as the Warren Zevon equivalent of Graceland, but I think anyone would find it interesting and the 70s decor is a kick. I remember my friends telling me years ago after their visit that it just goes to show you really can spend a million dollars at K-Mart.


If you can believe it, yesterday we went to someplace even BETTER than Graceland: we took a detour down to Tuscumbia, Alabama, to see Helen Keller's birthplace and the house she grew up in. Helen Freakin' Keller! Lori and I loved to read about her when we were kids, so this is one place we weren't going to miss, even though it was about 140 miles out of our way. We even wore dresses out of respect for our hero.

I'll save the details of that visit for another post, but I can't wait to show you these videos. The first one is of our approach to the estate. We're all like, [sound of angels] "Ahhhh..." and then Lori sees a bust of Helen Keller in the garden. You can't hear it on the video, but instead of saying, "There's Helen Keller's bust," she says, "There's Helen Keller's breast." So much for solomn reverence.



Last night stuck in a traffic jam, we were still laughing about it.



We are lunatics. More to come...