A Quick Stop In Memphis

Graceland is still decorated the same as it was the day Elvis died. 


The foyer and front dining area are bright. White carpets cover the floor. The walls are just barely beige and textured. A piano and multiple TVs are a distressed ivory. White furniture fills out the room. It’s overwhelming on its own, but all the more shocking because of the colorful stained glass peacocks demanding focus. They welcome you into the house, and tell you that this is a place worth visiting. 


Shag carpet and ornately draped fabric adorn the walls in dimly lit, darkly colored rooms toward the rear and basement of the house. They create a cool, relaxing atmosphere that invites you to stay a while, to sit, and rest, and probably have a cigarette. 


You can’t stay too long, though. 


The front room

a pool room in the basement

Tours get ushered through Graceland quickly. There’s a museum across the street where you can take your time and learn more about Elvis’s life, music career, car collection, and even check out his private airplane, but you only get a short glimpse into his life as he lived it. A short glimpse into his home. 


It’s not even all on display. His bedroom is on the second floor of the house. Ostensibly, visitors never went up there in Elvis’s day, and he never came down any less than fully ready to perform. To this day, only his family is allowed up the stairs. A lot of staff aren’t even allowed. 


So it is with almost any trip, I think. Mark and I arrived in Memphis at midnight on a Friday and left Sunday just after breakfast. That gave us less than 36 hours to explore. At least 16 of those were sleeping. Another four spent getting up, getting ready, laying down, drifting to sleep. No more than 12 hours actually visiting. Shoot, we spent more time in the car just getting there. 


So we left with just a taste of Memphis. Literally a taste of Central BBQ’s offerings, but also a stroll through the neighborhood around our AirBnb, a browse through Stax Records, and a quick peek inside the Bass Pro Shop pyramid--a former basketball arena that now houses a hotel, indoor “swamp,” duck hunting exhibit, and the eponymous store.


That’s ok. We’ll have to come back. 

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