FIFTY STATES AWAYHAPPY BIRTHDAY BEN!
Today is an exciting day! It’s finally Ben’s birthday! Wohoo!
We started out opening his card and reflecting on the fact that we has thus far visited 12 States! It’s been quite a journey so far and we continue to be surprised by each state. This morning however, we went to Graceland! We’ve both been looking forward to seeing the home of Elvis, we had no idea it would occur on Ben’s birthday! We have some fantastic plans for the rest of the day to celebrate!
There hasn’t been a lot at Memphis so far, so the majestic Graceland looks somewhat out of place. It’s bizarre, the attraction is split into a couple of sections either side of the road aptly named Elvis Presley Boulevard. One side has the visitor centre, gift shops, restaurants, Hotel, museum’s and Elvis’ private jets; Lisa Marie & Hound Dog 2. The other side of the road is the gorgeous looking house!
Arriving at the visitors centre and selecting our tour, we made our way to the shuttle bus (no cars are allowed up to the house). Whilst it’s seems somewhat unnecessary to have a bus take you across the road, I feel like they are looking out for visitors safety as the road is quite busy. We were provided with iPads and headphones as the tour is self guided with the help of the videos and sound clips on the ipad.
The house was quite something! The decoration is still of the 70s era and we are told his family still occasionally have dinner here when they are in town. Elvis loved television it seemed with various TVs on each room, had he still been alive today I would bet he would have the biggest televisions! The upstairs in the house is closed off to the public as they believe this is how he would have wanted it. This didn’t spoil it as there is so much to see and such flamboyant and interesting styles around the house already, it’s a lot to take in.
I absolutely loved his living and music rooms, he certainly had some style! I don’t want to post to many pictures of the inside of the house as I wouldn’t want to spoil it for anyone! The tour was extensive, we go to see lots of different rooms, including the den, TV room, office, kitchen & dining, stables, yard and of course the trophy rooms!
These rooms were incredible! It certainly reminded you how much of a star he really was! There were awards just plastered everywhere! I’ve never seen so many discs on so many walls! His stage suits were also on display along with acting and military memorabilia.
At the end of a fabulous tour, we came to the garden, a quiet peaceful place of meditation. Also the place where Elvis and his family have been laid to rest. Everyone had great respect and it was silent, very sombre indeed.
We headed out and boarded the bus back! We have some shopping and eating to do! We had lunch in a car! No joke! A car had been gutted out to make a unique booth! So we had pulled pork and corn bread!
Saying goodbye to Tennessee, we were back on the road headed for Mississippi! It wasn’t that far of a drive across the state line. We headed to one of thd state parks: Trace State Park, where we’d decided to stay for a couple of days as Ben really wanted to get out do some walking and biking and have an adventurous birthday!
We checked in to our two bedroom Riverside cabin, although not much of a river at the moment as it’s very dry. We couldn’t believe how quiet it was here, sitting on our dock you could hear the fish pop up in the water. Every single little sound, its so Serene, with serenity also comes the lack of any WiFi or mobile signal. This troubled us only because it will be Mother’s day back home in the UK tomorrow and we wondered if our mums were having a lovely day! We had previously ordered gifts and we’re just hoping they arrived in our abscence!
To round off Ben’s day we went out to a local Mexican Restaurant, voted best in town! Rather nievely we decided for once to order a starter and our dinners! Oh my gosh we ended up with so much food! We swear we could have feed the 5000! We ordered an interesting drink called horchata it seems to be made from almonds and rice, rather nice!
After taking a large portion of food home in a to go box we needed to find a corner of room for a gut busting chocolate cake for the birthday boy! With me singing (poor Ben) it was time to cut the cake! Yummy it was too 😉
