Heartbreak Hotel ! !

Graceland ! !  The Mecca of all Elvis Presley fans, young and old….. No reservations, but I gave it a shot.  Pulled into The Guesthouse at Graceland around 11 on Tuesday morning.  The place was crazy busy, and I thought there was no way they would have a room available.  Wrong, I scored another military discount and ended up with a room on the 3rd floor.  Perfect… Great view of the pool and back courtyard.  Downstairs to the gift shop to get my tour tickets, and splurged on the Ultimate VIP package tour.  After grabbing the shuttle over to Elvis Memphis which is the center of everything, I checked in for my tour and still had time to grab my included meal at Vernon’s Smokehouse, and wander around some of the museum before the start of my tour.  Once again, I was sitting by myself patiently waiting for the rest of the tour to show and a young lady walks up and says, “Congratulations, it’s just you and me”…. What??? I just laughed.  Started with a souvenir picture and then past everyone standing in line for the shuttle over to Graceland, to my own VIP bus.  Private tour of the house and grounds with a tour guide, while most everyone else had the IPad audio tour.  My guide was awesome, she definitely loved her job and took time to tell and show me little things that made the tour that much better.  Things you don’t notice or hear about in the audio tour.  Tons of pictures later, she led me to the VIP section of the museum and handed me cotton gloves.  She opened a cabinet and handed me Elvis’ gold plated microphone.  Although thousands of people have held it, I still felt like a celebrity.  One of the highlights of my adventure.  Four hours later, I was back in the hotel and wandered into the EP Bar and Grill where I grabbed a BLGT (Bacon, Lettuce, Fried Green Tomato) sandwich and a beer for dinner and enjoyed an Elvis show in the lounge.  A little bit of an Elvis overload as every room, and outside area was playing only Elvis music, but the place was beautiful and most of the staff was extremely friendly and helpful…. I’m sure my Mom was looking down and smiling.  She enjoyed Elvis.  I did not get a chance this time through Memphis to stop at the Bass Pro Pyramid Store, as I wanted to make sure I made it to Shiloh National Military Park……   Elvis has left the building !!!!

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