Graceland USA
April 11th, 2009
We got up early Thursday morning to see Uncle Joe off to work. After some last-minute play time with the baby, we hit the road for Memphis. Eight hours later we checked in to our hotel. After some quick research for dinner we ended up at what turned out to be a rather sub-par restaurant on 2nd street. The chilly wind and raindrops sent us back to our hotel for the night to ride out the tornadoes and severe thunderstorms in the area.
The next day arrived chilly and windy, but without rain or severe weather. First stop was the Peabody Hotel to see the march of the ducks down from the rooftop elevator into the fountain in the lobby. After a quick look around the hotel, we had lunch in a true southern-style cafeteria across from Graceland. Though smaller than any of us had imagined, it was still a trip — a delightfully tacky and bizarre experience. (I took too many pictures of the shag walls, the ceramic panthers, and all those jumpsuits.) Lilly discovered a love for the music and I was reminded just how cool Elvis’ Sun Records sides and early major-label stuff was.
Back in town, we took a ride on the Main Street cable cars past the Civil Rights Museum. We briefly considered going there. I asked Maeve if she wanted to go and without skipping a beat, she answered yes. Then, with a comment that betrayed her lack of comprehension, she asked, “is there anything there I can climb on?” While I took the Gibson Factory tour, the girls shopped. We capped off our day with dinner at BB King’s club/restaurant where we heard some pretty awesome musicians playing soul standards.