Graceland, ‘A Hunk Hunk of burning love’

May 3

Visiting Graceland was an unique experience. Our campground was across the street from the mansion itself and adjacent to the visitor center. This was very convenient as we could just walk directly to visitor reception area.

The visitor center is almost like an Elvis village with restauras, shops, movie complex, gift shops and museums. Elvis collections of cars, awards, and memorabilia are in full display and I must say very impressive. After our morning tour of the mansion we spent a few hours going through all of these displays, a very enjoyable day.

The mansion itself was different than what one expected. Elvis bought it in 1957 for $102k! It sits in 13 acres of land which includes a horse stables and pastures. It also includes his grave and those of his parents and family. I didn’t know that Elvis had a twin brother that died at birth. His marker is there as well. Some people on the tour appeared to be on an Elvis pilgrimage which I found very touching. Even though Memphis was just a convenient stop on our westward route, I’m glad we stopped and visited Graceland.