USA Adventure Part 2: Memphis

Spending an amazing 4 days in New York was always going to be hard to beat and I was sceptical about whether i would enjoy Memphis or not. I really didn't think we would have enough to keep us occupied (apart from visiting the famous Graceland of course) for 3 days but I was totally wrong! In fact, we ran out of time to do everything we had planned to do!!
So here's what we got up to....

Day 1: After landing at Memphis International airport from La Guardia airport, we were escorted to our hotel (the iconic Heartbreak Hotel) by the hotel's minibus transfer service. We spent the rest of the late afternoon exploring the hotel's facilities, unpacking and deciding what to have for our tea! In the hotel lobby we spotted a bright pink furry retro style phone and on closer investigation, we found that it was a direct line to a nearby restaurant, Marlowe's. Once we realised that they pick you up from the Heartbreak Hotel in a pink Cadillac (for FREE!!), we immediately booked a table! Marlowes was a regular haunt of Elvis Presley and has since become a famous eatery in Memphis! We ordered our traditional BBQ style meals and a 'Marilyn' cocktail each - scrummy! We were feeling almost full, but we couldn't resist a pudding, so we treated ourselves to a Hunka Hunka Apple Pie and a Mississippi Mud Cake.....then we were definitely full! To walk off our meal before bed, we took a stroll around the 'Graceland Plaza' (which has recently had a huge makeover!) and did a bit of shopping. Then we spotted the famous 'Graceland Gates' and couldn't resist a quick peek at Elvis's famous home; building the excitement for our visit later that week! We had a busy day planned for the next day, so we headed back to the hotel and to our beds.

Day 2: Our busy, action packed day began with a ride on the Sun Studio's minibus, which took us to Sun Studio's, the Rock 'n' Soul Museum and the famous Beale Street. This bus is a great way of getting around cheaply if you fancy a day exploring Downtown Memphis, the only catch is that you have to get off the bus at Sun Studio's for an hour's tour then you can get back on the bus and head to Beale Street. If you arent a music fan then this wont be the bus for you, but if you are then please, please take the time to explore Sun Studio's - it was one of the best guided tours I have done! You begin in the small cafe and shop area downstairs, where you buy your tour tickets ($14 per adult) and wait for your tour guide to call your group. The tour guide we had was one of the young musician's who records at the studio's - she was clearly passionate about the music and history that is associated with Sun Studio's and her enthusiasm itself was worth the ticket price! Towards the end of the tour, you enter the actual studio where Elvis Presley, Carl Perkins, Johnny Cash and Jerry Lee Lewis famously recorded their music (together and solo). We were excited that you could actually touch the retro-style microphone that Elvis used when recording and sit at the drum kit that U2 "left behind" after recording their famous "Rattle and Hum" album! After the tour, the bus picked us up again and took us to Beale Street. We spent the rest of the afternoon lookng round the 'Rock n Soul' museum and learning about the musical roots of Memphis, before wandering up and down Beale Street. Beale Street itself is very different and whereas some aspects of it are trendy and upbeat, there are other places which look like they are still stuck in the 50s/60s - but that's the appeal of Memphis! There are lots and lots of bars along Beale Street, as well as shops and restaurants but we were really interested in finding just 3 places in Downtown Memphis - the Elvis Presley statue, the Hard Rock Cafe and the Peabody Hotel. We found the Peabody Hotel (just off Beale Street) just in time for the twice daily 'Duck March'; where the 'duck master' leads the resident ducks out of the downstairs fountain, along the red carpet (poo -free i hasten to add!), into the lift, up to the top floor and into their 'Royal Duck Palace'. If you get to see the march, it is very cute and quaint but taking the time to look around the hotel's lobby is just as interesting. You will find kitsch and cute hotel themed merchandise as well as the 'Lanksys Store', where Elvis Presley sourced a lot of his everyday clothes from. After a very busy day exploring Downtown Memphis, we headed to the Hard Rock Cafe on Beale Street for something to eat. We sat and ate our food (Fajita's - my Hard Rock choice everytime I visit) whilst listening to the local live band that was playing in the Hard Rock Cafe that evening. On the way back to the hotel our driver took us on a slight detour so we could catch a few clear glimpses of the Mississippi River - what a fitting end to a great day!

Day 3: This was it. The day in Memphis we had both been looking forward to for months....our visit to the King's GRACELAND! We had been told to allow 2.5-3 hours for the actual tour of the Graceland estate and then an extra 1-2 hours to explore the exhibits and plaza area. Well, 7 hours later and we had successfully completed the following:
- Graceland estate tour (twice! - once to take it all in and the second time to take the photos!)
- VIP 'Elvis's Hollywood Exhibit Been on board Elvis's famous private jet; 'Lisa Marie'
- Stood next to a wide range of Elvis's cars
- All of the extra exhibits including, Elvis in Hawaii, Elvis's Tupelo, the Elvis Archives, Elvis's clothes exhibition.
- Signed the footpath outside the Graceland gates with permanent marker pen (because there was no room on the wall!)
- Spent the rest of our hard earned dollars in the Graceland Plaza shops; buying merchandise from t-shirts, to keyrings!
- Eaten gluten free burgers and hotdogs and fries at the 'Rock n Roll' Diner....followed by a massive Ice Cream (literally bigger than my face!)
The actual Graceland Tour was amazing and very cleverly adapted to involve new technology. It is essentially a self-guided tour, but you have an iPad given to you to as an electronic guide. The iPad features really enhance this tour, as without it you would just be looking round a house with no one giving you the extra details. Friends of Elvis share personal 'home videos' with you along the way, which is a nice added touch. As you reach the end of the estate tour, you enter the memorial garden, where Elvis and his close family are buried. It is at this point, before you walk around the graves, that I recommend you find a quiet space and take a few minutes to watch the remainder of the iPad tour. That way you can walk around the meditation garden with nothing but your own thoughts....that's exactly what the Meditation garden was intended for, was it not? I wont spoil it for you, but right at the end of the iPad tour there is something extra special which involves 'Suspicious Minds' - I really hope they still have this as it was so emotional and poignant. If you go, let me know if this feature still exists!
After an epic day of Elvis, we found ourselves reminiscing over the days events over a meal and drinks at Marlowe's...again. Then headed back to the hotel to pack our bags and get some sleep ready for our flight back to the UK the next morning.

I must admit that I didn't expect to enjoy our time in Memphis as much as I did and, although we did pack in a lot of activities whilst we were, there are some things on my to-do list that remain unseen and unexplored. This gives us an excuse to go back one day to visit Mud Island, cruise along the Mississippi and walk in the footsteps of Martin Luther King at the Civil Rights Museum.

Memphis....you were a delight to explore. One day, I'll be back....

...to stay at the new 'Guest House at Graceland' (pictured above being built!)

Big Love,
L x

Want to learn more about how I decided the itinerary for this trip? Click here for my blog post.
Want to see what we got up to in New York on the first leg of our trip? Click here for my blog post.