Off to dinner in a pink caddy!
On Wednesday, it was up and off for a tour of Graceland. Peggy said she got goose bumps as the shuttle took them through those famous gates - the PA system was playing Elvis' "Welcome to my world, won't you come on in..........". It was a very good tour - they had headphones that gave an audio tour as they walked through the home. There were lots of Elvis tunes interspersed with the audio, and there were lots of audio clips of Elvis speaking. Peggy said she kept expecting to see him walking into a room. (For those of you who may not know, when Peggy was in high school in Jackson, TN, her steady boyfriend's sister (Anita) was dating Elvis. One weekend when Anita was home from Memphis she let Jerry & Peggy borrow Elvis' car to go to the drive-in. On the way home, Jerry was trying to tune the radio and wrecked the car. Oops! Next time you see her, asked her to show you the scar on her chin.) After touring the mansion, they went through the car museum and toured Elvis' airplane, the Lisa Marie.
Peggy in front of Graceland, Elvis' home which
is on National Register of Historical Places.
is on National Register of Historical Places.
Elvis grave in Memory Garden at Graceland
After Graceland, they were off to Sun Studios in downtown Memphis where Elvis recorded his first record. That was another eerie experience, as they still have all of the original tapes that Elvis made there, along with ones from Johnny Cash, Jerry Lee Lewis, Roy Orbison, and Carl Perkins, just to mention a few. They also got to hear part of an impromptu jam session that was recorded in 1956 with Elvis, Johnny Cash, Carl Perkins and Jerry Lee Lewis. At the time Jerry Lee was an unknown backup pianist for different artist that came in to Sun to record.
Picture hanging in studio at Sun Records captures the day that
four greats got together for a jam session. Standing left to right,
Jerry Lee Lewis, Carl Perkins, Johnny Cash, Elvis at Piano.
four greats got together for a jam session. Standing left to right,
Jerry Lee Lewis, Carl Perkins, Johnny Cash, Elvis at Piano.
After Sun Records, it was off to the Peabody Hotel for cocktails and to watch the parade of the ducks. These ducks live in the penthouse of the Peabody and come down every morning around 11:30 to play in the fountain in the lobby. At precisely 5:00, the Duck Master rolls out a red carpet, and the ducks proceed out of the fountain, down the red carpet and into the elevator to go back to the penthouse. John says he wouldn't have believed it if he hadn't seen it with his own eyes. What amazes me, is the ducks stay in the fountain all afternoon and make no attempt to leave!
Ducks playing in lobby fountain at Peabody Hotel.
Ducks taking a walk on the red carpet to the elevator.
Next stop was Beale Street - home of the blues - and some real good barbecue. Since they couldn't decide on which place, they had southern fried catfish at one, bought some tamales to go at another, had desert at yet another place, and then got barbecue to go at another! Now back to the tamales - John got a shock when they returned to the coach and he went to put the tamales in the freezer - they didn't look like the ones he's used to. These tamales were like the ones Peggy used to buy when she was growing up. There were street vendors that pushed their carts around town selling the tamales you're all used to - filling inside masa, wrapped in corn husks AND these wonderful hot tamales that is just filling wrapped in paper. Peggy said they used to sell for a nickel and the kids would buy them and just push the filling up out of the paper wrapper.
Beale Street
We're off to Florida now, so hope no more hurricanes develop.
