Day 24, Sunday, Oct 14, Graceland RV Park, Memphis, Tennessee

We had rain on & off throughout the night. It was 14.2C this morning and cloudy.
At 9:00 we walked across the parking lot to the entrance of Graceland, where Bill handed out our tickets and VIP passes.












We then boarded the shuttle that took us across the road to the "mansion", which is situated on a  13.5 acre estate. We were all issued headphones and i Pads to use for our self-guided, interactive tour hosted by John Stamos and featuring commentary and stories by Elvis and his daughter, Lisa Marie.

The first stop inside Graceland Mansion will be the foyer where you can view Elvis' living room, dining room, the stairways and his mother's bedroom. 
The tour also includes the kitchen, TV room, pool room the famous Jungle Room, his father's office, the Trophy Building the Racquetball Building and the Meditation Garden.
 Elements of decor you see in these rooms today span all of the Elvis eras at Graceland, but the look is primarily the late 1960s to early 1970s incarnation. 




In the Meditation Garden, we visited the graves of Elvis, his mother, father and his beloved grandmother, Minnie Mae. There is also a marker for his stillborn twin Jesse Garon, who remains buried in an unmarked grave in Tupelo, Mississippi.  




Following the tour of the house, we returned by shuttle to the newly-completed complex across the street.  




                 

The new complex includes a new automobile museum, Presley Motors, and Elvis: The Entertainer Career Museum, the world’s largest and most comprehensive Elvis museum in the world, as well as many more exhibits, restaurants and shops.The new state-of-the-art entertainment and exhibit complex is over 200,000-square-feet in size, “Elvis Presley’s Memphis” enables you to follow the life path that Elvis took, surround yourself with the things that he loved, and experience the sights and sounds of the city that inspired him. Experience Elvis’ life and career like never before – his roots, his influences and his artistry.

After touring, it was lunch time, so we stopped at Vernon's Smokehouse for authentic Memphis BBQ. The ribs were delicious! 

Following lunch, I finished viewing the exhibits, including the planes then rewarded myself ith a Peanut Butter Banana ice cream.







At 3:00, we were on he bus, heading for Mud Island (which didn't sound too inviting on the drizzly day!)  However, the rain had let up when we got there and what we were going to see was the Mississippi River Museum.
The 18 galleries showcase 10,000 years of history of the Lower Mississippi Valley covering subjects from early exploration and settlement, transportation & disasters along the river, and the evolution of music along Ole Man River through displays and narratives. You feel you've stepped back in time as you experience a life-size replica of a riverboat complete with sounds of gamblers and revelers. 

Our leaders & followers were not sure if they were coming or going in this dugout canoe!







What Mississippi River museum would be complete without a scale model of Old Muddy? Located outside the museum on the grounds of Mud Island River Park, the River Walk is one of the most unique representations of the Mississippi River in the world. It is a 5-block long replica of the lower Mississippi River, from Cairo, IL, to New Orleans, LA. Each 30" stride is equivalent to one mile on the actual river.
The river model is a giant jigsaw puzzle made up of 1,746 pre-cast concrete panels, each weighing 8 1/2 tons.
That concluded our day's activities.