The Journey of Parenthood…

TCB BABY!

Our last day in Memphis and the day I’d been waiting for!!! GRACELAND DAY!!! Whooohooo!!!!

We started off that morning by taking our time getting up and ready for the day and enjoying a free breakfast with all the other Elvis fans staying at the hotel. It was neat to instantly have a common bond with every single person there! We even met a couple from Brazil who were visiting America for a short time and considered Graceland to be a “must see” place. Kinda funny to me? But I guess Elvis is about as American as they come huh?

We had a short walk over to the entrance and passed over a cute bridge covered in signatures on the way. Duh…we had to add our names to the bunch 🙂

Wait…Elvis is still alive?!?!

Tickets! This is LEGIT!

On the shuttle ride over we were, as expected, the youngest ones there. An older couple even commented on how nice it was to see a younger generation with an appreciation for The King. Um DUH. Who doesn’t love Elvis?!?! I was pretty much brainwashed from birth and didn’t actually realized just how much I know about him until that day. I have all this random Elvis knowledge tucked away to bust out as needed. I totally need to get some kind of Elvis trivia game b/c I’d win that beast for sure!!!

It was an awesome moment to arrive at Graceland. I loved how normal his home looks and thought the entire thing was done so well. Seriously! It was just enough Elvis to satisfy the hardcore fans but it wasn’t too much either where it became boring. Casey knew very little about Elvis but enjoyed the entire thing and left wanting to learn more about him which I think is the way you’d want a tour to be! Leave ’em wanting more 🙂

It’s set up as a self guided audio tour. They only shuttle over a certain amount of people at a time so it’s not crowded and it all ran super smoothly. I took a good amount of pictures (no flash allowed so sorry for the blurry ones) and really we walked through the whole house in under an hour I think? It was a quick thing but SUPER awesome!!! It reminded me a lot of the Biltmore House (which we visited when I was freshly pregnant with Kye…preblogging days!) but it was a quicker tour which was a good thing. After awhile the Biltmore House gets a little boring!

Here’s some photos of The King’s Home:

Lisa Marie totally favors Britt a little 🙂 Maybe we share the Presley bloodline!

Carpet in the kitchen!

Old school security system

Something I never remembered learning about Elvis was this whole TCB thing (“taking care of business”). I don’t remember ever knowing that term but Casey and I became obsessed with it. I mean it’s pretty dang awesome right? It only makes Elvis even COOLER!!!

The house was NOT what I’d expected. I was picturing it looking so classy and elegant and everything would be gold or fancy or something. Instead it was straight up vintage 1970s style! It was an awesome surprise!!!

Shag Carpet on the walls!

Everyone needs a pink waterfall in their house right?

Lisa Marie’s playset

I really enjoyed seeing all of his records, awards, and memorabilia 

I think it’s my first time seeing a Grammy in real life?

I LOVE his paisley tux! So cool…totally wish Zach had rocked one like it for our wedding

I thought this was so precious, how he carried the award with him!

“Before anyone did anything…Elvis did everything”

It was a little disappointing that they don’t allow people to go upstairs in the home and see his room. There was VERY little mention at all about his death or what all had occurred during that time when he passed. I think it was very respectful to not focus on all of that and the audio guide said they didn’t allow people upstairs because Elvis didn’t like company to go upstairs. He would always greet people at the front door so that’s how they want it to be kept. I also think it would be difficult not to discuss his death in more detail if they allowed people upstairs since it is where he died, ya know?

I also think it’s neat that they had him moved to a final resting place at Graceland. He loved his home and he loved his family and it’s beautiful that they are all together. 

His twin brother who was stillborn at birth

It was sad to see that his grandmother out lived so much of her family. Her children and her grandson as well. It’s a blessing to live a long life like she did but it’s also sad that she endured such pain to lose so many that she loved. 

Our platinum tickets included the car museum 

Duh, my favorite

Casey’s fav b/c she always has to be different haha

I totally think Casey and I need to rock some matching TCB tattoos like Brody Jenner has…don’t you think?

Had to resist the temptation to buy this! I was a hardcore Barbie collector back in the day!

We did a good bit of shopping. I found a Christmas ornament for our tree and bought the kids an adorable book called 10 Little Elvi. I also got Mrs. Charlotte a little something for watching the kids for me so we could go on the trip 🙂 I didn’t get Zach a prize b/c he’s 0% an Elvis fan haha I really, really wanted to buy myself some awesome Elvis pjs that looked like his Vegas outfit. But with a $50 price tag I resisted 🙂

For lunch we just stayed at Graceland and got to eat inside an old car! Pretty cool! We chatted it up with a nice lesbian couple and their children. We are SO sheltered down here in South Georgia b/c it took us both a LONG time to realize the two women were in a relationship and not just two friends haha. We wonder if they thought we were in a relationship too?!?! 

Our tickets also included a tour of Elvis’ planes!

Learning so much about Elvis that day really made me like him more! He has this image of being so full of himself and of living a wild life, but really that’s not who he was at all. He was shy and kept to himself and wasn’t even wild! In fact, he didn’t like alcohol and instead wanted his plane always stocked with Gatorade!!! 

TCB!!!!!

We had a LOT of time to kill so what better to do than get some ice cream? Casey’s face in the first one is hilarious!

Goodbye Graceland, we love you!

It was a REALLY great tour and something I would possibly do again someday. I mean I don’t have a desire to really go back but if someone wanted to go I’d def be down! I think we were both glad to have seen it as Elvis is so much a part of American culture!!! 

We got back to the hotel and straight up CHILLED for like an hour before getting our ride to the airport. The news was on and we had to watch the whole Paula Dean scandal news on repeat over and over again while we waited. Our ride to the airport was pretty classic. The dude who drove us is really into the underground music scene and basically was trying to sound all cool about some random music genre I’ve never even heard of. I tried to play along to seem like I was cooler than I am and then once we got to the airport Casey said she was doing the same thing haha. We’re lame. And we’re okay with it 🙂 

At the airport we were EXHAUSTED. Our flight didn’t leave until 6 so we got some dinner and Sparked it UP! 

“I neeeed my Spark!!!” haha

Of course our flight was delayed. I mean that’s how stuff always goes right? We ate dinner and chilled and just waited to be able to board the plane. This lady had her dog waiting to board and we were all praying not to be seated near her with that little yipper barking the whole time. I personally would rather have a baby on a plane than a dog. When I see a baby I think “aw they are giving the baby an experience by taking it on a trip with them!” But when I see a dog? I think “why they heck didn’t you just kennel that dog?!?!” Guess I’m not a dog traveler type person…

When we FINALLY got to Atl we were so thankful we didn’t check any luggage!!! We had to wait for the shuttle to take us to our parking spot and on the ride to the car there was some mild shady dude stuff going on. One guy was obviously a businessman and was basically trying to hit on us and another one was just being creeperish. So I asked the driver to drop us off directly at our car and wait for us to get in. Whatever, I have NO SHAME in asking for some help when I feel uncomfortable or nervous about safety. I know Casey may think it’s lame but also deep down she loves it about me 😉

Once we got to our car we had a lovely 3 hour drive home. We stopped through a McDonald’s to get some iced coffees and OF COURSE their machines were off for the night. Casey got crunk on them which was hilarious. But I mean aren’t their machines ALWAYS off?!?!? I rarely even ever get McDonald’s but when I do it seems like that’s the case! So annoying!!!

We got home at around 2 am. It was a LONG 3 days but it was SO SO SO fun. I’m so thankful Casey was down to go on this little girl trip getaway with me. We, legit, never ran out of stuff to talk about the entire time. And, in fact, we both got home and said we had forgotten to talk about several things haha. I knew the very first time I met Casey that I would like her and that we would click. It took us a few years to finally start jelling but now that we do I don’t see it EVER changing!!! I’m so, so thankful for our friendship. It really is something I know that is very rare. Our husbands are best friends. I adore Jordan. Zach obviously loves Casey since they are siblings. And I consider Casey a best friend. I mean it doesn’t get more perfect than that!!! 

While I’m SO glad I got to go on this trip and got to cross “Visit Graceland” off my bucket list, a part of me was pretty sad that Dad wasn’t there with me. Learning more about Elvis really made me feel a closer connection with my Dad, even though he wasn’t there! I got home and sent him this little picture collage of my trip and I also mailed him an Elvis postcard in the mail!

I sent him a text of the photo collage and his response is AWESOME. Growing up my brother and I were always convinced my dad was a mafia member or a CIA agent (neither were true…at least I don’t think? haha) but after this trip I’ve decided my dad is TOTALLY Elvis 🙂 

I’m hoping this was just the first of MANY girls’ trips to come with Casey in the future! TCB for LIFE BABY!!!

Emily Parker
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