Once upon a time in a log cabin in Memphis.....two english girls slept on two matresses on the floor with no bedding and were at one with nature (horrible american bugs and big mozzy's!!!)....hee hee hee they giggled randomly at their current situation! I'm not even joking about the log cabin!!! We had a bit of a predicament finding accommodation whilst travelling through the middle of the country because there wasn't any hostels. Me and Ali really wanted to rent an RV (campervan hee hee) and even went to do so but america is so discriminative on age that it was really expensive, so were the hotels in Memphis, hence the log cabin! Come on it was only $20 per night ***say cheeeeap*** and it was just for two nights while we went to see the king! The location was really good too....get this, we stayed on Elvis Presley Blbd at the Graceland RV park hee hee right next to Graceland itself :) :) so it wasn't all bad! Now after the Texas experience we didn't really have any positive expectations of Tennessee but Memphis itself was a really lovely city. The bridge on the way in was a spectacle at night when it was all lit up, as was the famous Pyramid style music dome. It was there that we actually had our first mouth watering steak :) after only a month of trying! The city is the home of the blues and Union avenue is lined with just that, blues bars and clubs that are apparently very impressive on weekends, we were only there midweek so didn't really get a taster. We spent our only full day in Memphis visiting Elivis's Graceland Mansion (once again doing the tourist thing!). The mansion itself was noting extravagent, but you could see immediately how Elvis must have loved it. The rooms were all quite tastefully decorated (even the jungle room!!) and still in impecable condition. Photo's don't actually do it justice because of the dark lighting in most rooms to preserve the furnature etc... The only disappointing part of Graceland was that after ever attraction/ display etc... there was a souveneer (sp??!) shop! This is just typical of America in general! Personally i would have to say that it was quite an emotional experience, although Ali didn't feel the same. Standing at his grave was really upsetting, because after seing how much of a genius Elvis was it's kinda sad when you realise that he wasn't happy deep inside and was quite self destructive when you look back. I couldn't bring myself to photograph the grave as many others were because i didn't really think that photo's would to the experience justice (visiting the Vatican in Rome was similar but stronger, as you'd expect). The best bit about Memphis had to be our constant rendition of Cher's Walking in Memphis hee hee sad i know but it did give us great pleasure to actually understand the lyrics, and witness Memphis and Graceland first hand! That song is now going to be our karyjokie song when we get back home and is definately the song of the holiday :) Memphis now has a small place in our heart, but then again so does SanFran and Vegas hee hee I would have liked to stay there for a few more days but because of the lack of cheap accommodation we couldn't afford to. I'm sorry i've got a bit of a back log of journals to write; Orando, Miami and Chicago will follow in the next few days but i'm gonna have to write Boston, New York and Washington DC when i get home folks...... we just don't have the time :P you know how it is being an international jet setter hee hee Hope all is well at home :) and we'll see you soon (just 11 days left!). Lots of Love, Jane and Ali x x