Back in the Big Easy
I’m back home in New Orleans again and it sucks to be here! After driving around half the country and getting to hang out in Manhattan, N.O. seems so bland and unattractive. Bleah! Lisa just put up a new post about the trip that covers a lot of the details from Texas to New York so I’ll just touch on a few highlights. With photos!
The first leg back was through Arkansas, nothing to see here, so no photos! Memphis and Graceland are a different story though. I’ve never been a fan of Elvis in any way shape or form so I wasn’t all that thrilled about going. I mean come’on, anyone willing to sing a duet with Frank Sinatra is totally uncool in my book. That ain’t rock and roll! That’s too much like Pat Boone singing heavy metal cover songs. Yeah, that bad.
I actually enjoyed the tour quite a bit although the Graceland mansion was a lot smaller than I imagined. Out of respect for Elvis memory, they don’t let you tour the upstairs rooms! That’s total BS, the tour has all the charm of a carnival of tackyness yet they draw the line there. Whatever! We laughed the hardest at Elvis’ extremely tacky decor and this one item in particular. A white fur covered bed with a stereo system built into the overhead canopy. You have to wonder how many women took a ride on this thing! LOL Lisa seemed to think it was really cool though! I wish I had one of those myself!
Lying on the bed appeared to be a selection of Elvis’ sequined pajamas, even when he was asleep he was tacky!
The best part about the mansion tour was the trophy building out back on the grounds. It had tons of memorabilia on display, including gold and platinum records with plaques, many of his custom made outfits, old original movie posters from his many flicks and dozens of tv monitors running continous looped clips from his many tv performances thru the years. That was pretty impressive.
That night we went to the Rendezvous Restauarant for some Memphis style ribs that were finger licking good! The place was packed with people!
Then we walked down the alley to check out the world famous Peabody Hotel where they have a group of ducks that come down the elevator from the roof top and take a red carpet march to the lobby fountain twice a day. We were there too late for the duck walk but the lobby was insanely beautiful and very impressive! I found this photo below on the web that’s much nicer than the one I took. Look closely and you can see the ducks swimming in the fountain.
The next morning we drove up thru Nashville and on to Kentucky where we thoroughly enjoyed the mountain scenery. I didn’t take any photos here. Later on though in northern West Virginia we drove thru a mountain pass that had a very unusual rock formation that I just had to get photos. It doesn’t look all that impressive this small, so click on the image to get a larger view with the crescent moon shaped rock layers. Very striking in person, the scale of the pass that was cut thru the rock face is huge, it makes you feel so tiny when you look up at it.
Well that’s all for today kids, I have more to share in the next post that will be all about the New York part of the trip with more photos! Including meeting Evil Julie and a close encounter with Justin Timberlake! Hope you guys are having a great weekend!
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Sounds like a great time was had—even more important it was a safe trip. Glad you enjoyed yourself and was able to meet a some Blogging friends along the way.
[…] sure and check out Se7en’s blog cause he has his own memories AND he was the one with the […]
Just read Lisa’s account. The Elvis bed is more impressive in picture than by her description. Yikes! It’s hard for me to think in terms of N.O. being “bland and unattractive” though, seeing as it’s where I’m always trying to go! I’m glad y’all had a good time. Welcome home.
Ouch @ Sophmom
As for Elvis’s fur bed… I thought it was more hilarious than cool. In a pervy-rockstar-bachelor sort of way
Sorry I twisted your arm to go to Graceland but I KNOW you had fun. Come on, fess up!
Oh, I’ve seen Sideling Hill in person!!! What? Back in the Big Easy already??? WHAAAAAAAAA!!!!
That bed seems kind of gross to me…. think of all the dust mites hiding in that furry thing… ick!
Elvis was the king of tacky! But hey, I’d like to have so much money I could have the wildest things imaginable!
Ow, who can sleep in sequins?
That Elvis bed is too too much.
Home does always look a little less when you see new things.
Totally love it. The rock on the highway looks familiar. I’d driven through W.V. all my life and yet I can’t think of the highway, I just know it’s on. I imagine, it’s hard to top Manhattan, huh? Were you there for the big explosion, we just had, in downtown? I’m going to post pics later. Hope you had fun!
Sounds like you had a blast! I LOVE road trips!!
I have always preferred leaving my memory of young Elvis intact and do not believe I would go to Graceland. Seems that despite the strength of his voice, which is very good, and some voice analysis say was great among singers, he fell into the pathetic grind of commercialism that seemed to make him feel empty.
I have always loved Memphis style BBQ. I would have loved to see duck walk!
When I ride through West Virginia from time to time, go through some of those mountain cuts, I am always awed by the civil engineering skill of the roads that cut through the mountains.
My daughter is dying to do this Elvis tour. She has had a fascination with Elvis since she was literally 5 years old. I took her for ribs at “red, hot and blue’ (local), which had Elvis stuff everywhere and when we walked in, she started to cry because of all the Elvis stuff. Strange. I was never an Elvis fan really, so I don’t know where she gets it from.