Real time update here before we return to summer in New England: some of you will remember the soft spot in the trailer floor that we discovered just before leaving for our summer trip (like the day before). We found no obvious cause for it while we were gone, but a few days of heavy rain and a slightly unlevel trailer when we got home led to water all over the floor and made it clear the leak was coming from somewhere or other along the driver’s side wall. It spent three full months at the repair place, where they diagnosed and fixed the leak (in the kitchen window) and repaired the extensive water damage. We were very lucky that it was still under warranty. The trailer is finally back home now (and stayed dry through tons and tons of rain this week)….but we haven’t been able to do any RV travel at all this fall (the Disney trip was supposed to involve a Fort Wilderness stay). But we’re still fitting in some travel! Our Disney trip of course and….college visits!
Ari is a senior this year, which means that we’re deep in college application season right now. So deep that I’m currently sitting in a hipster hotel (it used to be the junior high school! The bar is called The Periodic Table!) in Grinnell, Iowa, while Ari does an overnight visit at the college down the street. It’s very cold here. Well, not in my hotel, because the heat can’t be set below 68 for some reason. I guess Iowans are surprisingly delicate about the cold or something.
ANYWAY, here’s a quick post (well, it was supposed to be quick; then I got to talking about Grinnell and the trailer and all), NOT about our visit to Hendrix College in Arkansas, but about the stops we made on the way there. I’m not really allowed to take too many pictures during college tours, lest I embarrass Ari, and, anyway, there probably aren’t too many readers who happen to be interested in a tiny college in Arkansas. But Ari liked Hendrix a lot, and if anyone DOES want to hear more, I’m happy to share.
But now let’s talk Graceland!
I hadn’t been to Graceland since college, when I went with my friend Suzanne, and we sprang for the “Platinum Tour.” I mostly remember a security guard yelling at us for taking a picture in the gift shop. I don’t know why you couldn’t take pictures in the gift shops. I called the security guard the Elvispolice, because I had a guide book at the time that renamed everything at Graceland that way–Elvisplane, Elviscar, Elviskitchen, etc.–which I found completely delightful.
So I’ve been wanting to take the kids to Graceland for forever, but….Graceland is EXPENSIVE, ya’ll! Like Disney level pricing almost. I mean, not quite, but I could spend a full day at Disney for twice what I’d spend on 2-3 hours at Graceland. And there aren’t even any rides. Or Mickey.
So this trip where there would only be two of us seemed like a good chance for at least one kid to see Graceland without bankrupting us. We were driving all the way from home (north of Atlanta) that morning (and going on to Little Rock afterwards), and we didn’t end up getting there until about an hour before they stopped selling tickets. Which turned out to be kind of a good thing, because we had a really uncrowded tour experience.
After you buy your really expensive tickets you watch a short movie about Elvis and then get on a shuttle bus for a trip across the street to the mansion. As you board the bus, they hand you a tablet and headphones so you can listen to the audio tour, narrated by John Stamos. After you’re dropped off at the house, you’re turned loose to move at your own pace. First I took a picture of Ari with this lion out front, because I always take pictures of Ari with lions (because his name means lion):
As you go through the house, the audio guide tells you all about each room and also exactly when to move on to the next room and how to get there. It’s very easy to follow and really well done. Nice job, John Stamos!
So let me say that, when I visited as a college kid, I was all, “haha–super over the top 70’s decorating–what hilarious fun!” And this time I was more, “OMG–I could use SO MANY AMAZING DECORATING IDEAS FROM THIS HOUSE!!” Not even kidding.
I mean, who would turn down these peacock stained glass windows? Not I:
Or this awesome den in the basement? (I don’t need three TVs. But I do appreciated that Lyndon Johnson’s multiple TVs were Elvis’s inspiration here):
Poodle wallpaper! (in Elvis’s parents’ bathroom):
Super glam dining room–look at the table top!
The insane fabric covered walls and ceiling in the pool room are INSANE(ly awesome):
And the live edge coffee table in the Jungle Room is very on trend:
I have to say that I’m going to pass on the cave-like, carpeted kitchen, though:
That carpet is something, though….
You can buy assorted ticket packages at Graceland, but ours included the mansion (along with the outbuildings, one of which holds a small museum, and the gravesite):
….and the Elvisplanes!
The bigger plane is a pretty remarkable thing to see. It’s like a mini Graceland.
By the time we left, things had pretty much shut down. Graceland after hours looks like a somewhat creepy abandoned Disney World:
This post was supposed to include Little Rock, Arkansas, too….but it got really long, so I’m saving that for the next post!
At least you can’t see the stains on the carpet. I had a friend who had indoor-outdoor carpet in her kitchen in the seventies–briefly. Her thinking was that when toddlers dropped things they wouldn’t break, and also crawling friendly. However in addition to the toddlers she had two dogs and four cats. She replaced it quite soon.
My impression from occasional pictures over the years was that Graceland was much more over the top. It doesn’t look like that now–at least except for the peacocks, which are always over the top.