Been AWHILE! I know. I've enjoyed writing about all my adventures, I'm not at all good at keeping a journal, and this has been a bit easier/funner (yes, that is a word). But catching up is not at all fun and that is what I've been trying to do for the last week and a half. But before I get ahead of myself. Let me finish this trip before I tell you about my other one. Lets see where was I? Oh yes, Memphis, Tennessee. (Side note: I wish I could have gone to Rocky Top, Tennessee and then I would have sung that country song and danced around like a hill-billy. I'm nerdy/country like that.)
Okay so, Memphis which is not really country at all. Its Blues and Rock'nRoll. So I of course went to Graceland.
The front of the home did not look very big and it was hard to get a good picture because of all the trees in front.
A guy again offered to take a picture of me, but I didn't think he set it up very well. But you can see my outfit and if you look carefully the headphones on my hat. They were bugging my ears and they fit on my hat and it worked out just peachy.
No flash was allowed but the living room had enough light the photos were good. I thought this was a pretty room.
We were not allowed upstairs because during Elvis' life he didn't allow anyone but immediate family upstairs. It has the same big curtain at the top of the stairs, so you can see anything upstairs. He also had a room for his parents on the ground level that was just opened a couple months ago for people to see. It was pretty too. This is the basement, so light wasn't as good. You see one t.v. but there were two more to the left. Elvis heard Pres.Johnson watched all three main news stations at the same time, so he bought three tvs and did the same.
This room is next door to his tv/lounge room. All the walls and ceiling are fabric. There is still a hole in the wall when a friend hit one of the balls too hard and it hit the wall.
This is me, annoyed by the lines. It was really crowded and some people were going so slow and everything is so roped off you can't really cut ahead.
So out back he had an office and on one end of this building a little room him and his friends used for target practice. I thought that was pretty funny.
He also got into raquetball and had a court built in his backyard. It also had a lounge room. Below the piano in that room Elvis played the morning of his death.
He, his parents, and a grandma are all buried to the right side of the house, in what used to be his meditation garden. I learned quite a bit about him that I never knew. He loved to read, was very educated about politics and VERY generous. I thought he was just a druggy.
So after the house tour, across the street they have some of his old cars, including this pink cadillac he gave his wife. Again no flash was allowed :(
He also owned two planes, this bigger one he bought and named for his daughter. It had a living room, two bedrooms, two bathrooms, and a dining room, with a few other seats.
After that tour I drove into downtown Memphis to the Lorraine motel.
This is where Martin Luther King, Jr. was shot.
It is also the National Civil Rights Museum. I also learned quite a lot there. Outside the second part of the museum is this really cool gate with a quote from MLK, Jr.
It says (for those who can't read it), "I may not get there with you but I want you to know that we as a people will get to the promised land." Then I got on the road for a pretty long drive to Dallas, TX. Memphis is on the edge of Arkansas. I didn't do to much in Arkansas, filled up the tank, got some lunch and kept driving. It was a 7 and a half hours to Dallas, TX.
I had not been planning on spending much more time in Texas, but my brother Jonathan begged me to come by. So I ended up Friday night at his wife's parent's house. We got ice-cream and talked for a LONG time. He and his wife have been out of the country for two years, so I haven't talked much to him. Saturday morning we got up and went first to see the temple. It was interesting, not quite as elegant as others but pretty in its own way.
Then we went to downtown Dallas, to see the Sixth Floor Museum, where JFK was shot from. The window right below the decorative edge on the corner is opened and the one where the shooter was at.
There are two Xs on Elm street marking where JFK was hit
There was a lot of talk at the time about the people on the "grassy knoll" waiting to see the president and when the shots were heard how some of them ran and some ducked.
So I don't know if this is rude or disrespectful, but Jonathan and I re-enacted the people on the grassy knoll.
Here is Christine and I and the first X to the right of us. I think my shirt makes me look pregnant but I am not, she is 9 months. She had her little girl a few days after I left :(
Then we had lunch at a really old BBQ place. I thought it was tasty. Then I got on the road for a 10 and a half hour drive to Las Cruces, NM. It wasn't as bad as I thought it was going to be. I got a motel, grabbed a bite and crashed! Sunday morning I got up and was going to shower since I hadn't in a couple days. But I just wanted to get home and I didn't care what I looked since I wasn't taking pictures that day. I didn't even get really dressed, I just wore my pjs. I only had one stop to get gas and made it home by 1:30pm. I unloaded my overly packed car because I had just thrown in whatever I thought I might need or use and then crashed again on my couch for a few hours. Overall it was an AWESOME trip!!! I had a blast. I want to do another one to the northeast now, since I haven't seen anything north on NY. I'll let you know when I decide.
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