My gosh you've gotten fat.*

Congratulations to Isaac for getting the last blog bucks! This puts him back in 10th place!

Memphis - one of my new favorite cities.  

Well, G-Sauce and I packed it in on Saturday in Memphis.

We started the morning at Graceland.  As we were driving there G said, "So far Graceland is living up to what I thought it was, a dump - well maybe surrounded by a dump." And Graceland is not a dump - but it is encapsulated in 1970.  But Memphis IS kind of a dump (at least all the parts we saw).

We learned that when Lisa Marie was about 8 or 9, Elvis realized that she had never seen snow - so they got on the plane and flew out to some state northwest, she played in the snow for a bit and then they got back on the plane and came home...I had to wear my PJs on backwards and inside out to see snow...

G - showing off the audio equipment

From there - we went to find parking near Beale Street.  We had a bus tour reservation at 2 and had some time so we walked around Beale and grabbed lunch at Hard Rock Cafe.

Just as with Arkansas, it was cold and rainy all day.  While we were in Hard Rock, the music suddenly started to be themed.  It started with "I'm Only Happy When It Rains" and then the next song said something about rain, and then next, and the next.  At least 5 songs before we left were all about rain.  G and I had a good laugh at that.

Then we walked around some more.  Found these gems.

Then we found the railroad...

 

And then the Mississippi River!

Then it was time for our bus tour.  We had the address but couldn't seem to find the place.  For a split second I thought maybe G had been duped by the online trip planning.  I went up to a window and asked them where the company was and the guy pointed at his notebook.  So we waited for the bus...which apparently wasn't their bus.  Their bus was having trouble.  I wish I could have seen their bus.  The one we were in was a little more than old, there was 'stuff' all over (trash, food, stains on the seats and the overwhelming feeling that I was about to sit on a cushion that had been urinated on).  Also, there was a bar above our seats and rain or something had gathered on there and dripped on me the whole time.  THE WHOLE TIME.  Good thing I was wearing a sweatshirt that covered my arms.  BUT they gave us shakers:

And we were to play the shakers whenever the tour guide started to sing. I don't know if you know this, but the shakers are MY JOB in 'family band'.  Christian plays the guitar/piano/harmonica, Ben is a backup singer when he's around, Chris tries to play the drums, Nick goes to his room, and I play the shakers.  So, I was ready for this tour.

 We saw Elvis' high school and also the place where he first performed

We saw where Martin Luther King was killed

And at the end of the tour - they took our shakers away.  Boo hiss.

Then we went to the Rock and Soul Musuem for an audio tour. 

Johnny Cash clothes!

We grabbed dinner at The Pig - almost died in the bathroom

This is the cleanest part of the bathroom.

We stopped in at a music store and while G-sauce perused the selections, I ended up dancing with a man named Smokey who called both Gretel and I "Virginia" and gave me grief for wearing a Yankee sweatshirt (Boston).


Then we went to the car to rest our dogs until the show.

We went to the Orpheum Theater to see "The Million Dollar Quartet"  LOVED IT.  Absolutely loved it.

Then a view of Beale street at night.

If you asked me my favorite part about Memphis - I couldn't say, I enjoyed so much of it!