After a few last glances at the Mississippi, we headed to Graceland. Priscilla has done a great job creating a
Mega-income for the estate! Parking: $10, tour: $35/person, $25 for us due to our advanced age and AAA membership. It was worth it! We spent at least a couple hours stepping back in time and remembering Elvis as we "knew" him in our youth. So many photos and pieces of memorabilia were familiar! The film clips of Elvis, Priscilla, and Lisa Maria, enjoying life at Graceland made them seem real, not the bigger-than-life star he was. Of course, I loved all of info about Elvis in the early 70's when I saw him in Vegas and actually kissed him...that was before he gave out scarves! He was an icon...very philanthropic and full of love of family. One of the neat things about being here at Christmas time was we got to see Graceland decorated. All of the decorations are original! Simple and meaningful, definitely of the 70s.Priscilla visits Graceland several times a year to make sure all of the furnishings and interiors are as they were when they lived there. Fairly new to the tour are Elvis' cars and 2 airplanes. He had some nice toys! It was hard to leave...you could almost
feel his presence! But...we had a long
drive ahead of us. We didn't know how
far we would get, but we were hoping to get close to Knoxville. We made it to just west of Knoxville, Hotwired a hotel and were not disappointed. An added bonus was a Carrabas Restaurant by the hotel...the salmon called us and we responded! As usual, the best Salmon
outside of Alaska!!! We retire, with only one more stop left on our tour...the Biltmore House in Asheville, NC...tomorrow!