Memphis, Tennessee

Before we even started this trip I told Rob that I wanted to go to Graceland. So, that was our next stop. We spent almost a whole day at Graceland. We did the audio tour of the mansion and we were able to see where Elvis spent his time. It was also fun to see all the old stuff, like the outdated kitchen and funky fabric covered walls. The kids got a kick out of seeing everything too. They loved seeing all of his gold records and awards. They also liked seeing all of his costumes. The girls learned a ton from the audio tour and they all decided that they love Elvis. At the end of tour everyone walks past Elvis and his parents' grave sites. It's a little strange to be there but it makes sense. He was buried at a local cemetery but his grave was constantly being messed with by people so his father arranged for the graves to be moved to the Graceland grounds. Elvis had a twin brother who died at birth, he's not buried at Graceland with the rest of the family. The baby is at a cemetery in Tupelo, Mississippi where the family is from.

We also walked through the Elvis car museum and walked through his airplane. The girls got a kick out of all the old cars, they had fun looking at them all and pretending the cars were theirs. They all really liked the old limo. The airplane was cool too, it was fun to see all the different areas and how it was all set up. I think the airplane was bigger and more luxurious than our RV was. After leaving Graceland we prayed we wouldn't be murdered drove into downtown Memphis. Downtown was interesting. We drove past Sun Records, where Elvis recorded and we also drove down Beal Street which is famous for being the home of Jazz music, or something like that (Rob is the music expert, not me). We also noticed a giant pyramid building and saw that it looked to be an old stadium or event center of some kind. Then, we noticed the giant "Coming Soon Bass Pro Shops" sign and thought that is going to make one funky Bass Pro Shops. There were some really nice homes along the river. Rob really loved the old police station, he kept saying it looked like it was from Batman.

The next day we took a riverboat cruise. I told everyone to dress for cool weather because it would be colder on the boat. The day was actually pretty warm, about 70 degrees and while we were waiting for the boat to leave the dock everyone complained about how hot it was. But, guess what, about ten minutes after leaving the dock EVERYONE was freezing and complaining! The cruise was fun and we learned a lot from the tour guide. He told us a lot about Memphis history. He did have a deep southern accent which made it hard for the girls to understand and AG was getting frustrated that she didn't know what he was saying.

We were only in Memphis for three days so we didn't do much else. We actually stayed across the river in West Memphis, Arkansas at the Tom Sawyer River RV park. The park was decent, I'd definitely stay there again if we were in the area. The free laundry was a huge plus! The spaces are close together though and the wifi was horrible but it was cheap and we weren't there long so it worked for us.

Barge going through the river at our RV park

Sadly this is the best group picture we got