Graceland Memphis, TN.

My wife and I drove to Memphis last year to visit the shrine known as Graceland. There are many reasons to visit Graceland. Elvis hung out here, lived here, died here, and is buried here. The biggest musician ever lived here, and it is still pretty much the same place it was then. It looks like it looked back then. You can walk through his house, and see his stuff.
Everyone knows who Elvis was, and this is where he lived.

The house
We paid I think $8 to park. At first, not having been there before, we weren't really sure what was what. Where was the house, the planes, etc. You actually go into a tourist center and buy your ticket. They then load you into a bus and drive you across the street to Elvis' actual house. If you walked, you would walk about 3 minutes from the center to his house. They give you an audio device and headphones at the bus. The audio device guides you and tells you about what you are seeing in the house.
There are ropes in the house. You can't go set on Elvis' couch or anything, but there is plenty of access. They are pretty laid back about the whole thing really. You can take pictures but you can't use a flash. I was a little surprised really by how much access they gave you.
The house is very 70's. It's a bit over the top. Also, it's a lot smaller than I expected. It's big, but I figured a music legend would have a REALLY big pad.
There are several side buildings too. They have put up many of the King's awards in his racquetball court.
After Elvis left the army, he held a press conference in one building. There is a video loop in that building of the conference. You can look around and see that the room is still pretty much unchanged.
Everyone knows that Elvis and his family are buried on the site too, not far from the front door of the house. It is pretty emotional seeing that. Flowers and fan art arrive and are displayed pretty constantly.
The area
Back across the street, near the main visitor center, are the other Elvis related museums. You can by a ticket to see all of the museums, or just one, or just a ticket to see the house. There is a museum of Elvis' cars, costumes, military stuff, and his planes (including the Lisa Marie). All are cool. The military one was crowded but had a lot of neat stuff relating to his service. Each of the museums has a connecting gift shop. The gift shops in this area go on forever. At least every other business is a gift shop.

Why go
Graceland is cool. Elvis is such an icon that, even if you aren't real familiar with him or his work, it is amazing that this area has become a religious landmark. You should go see it too because it is so well preserved. Also, Elvis is cool by every definition. He influenced everything. I think he was a good southern kid who cared about people, he had good manors, and he loved his mom. Even though he was bigger than life, he still helped people out, gave cars away, and was a generally nice guy. He didn't attempt to duck out of his military service the way other celbs tried to (I'm talking to you James Dean!). Even though he was huge, he was still Elvis from the block.

Why not go



It is really hard for me to think of a reason not to go to Graceland. I guess, if you have kids, they may not appreciate it. Screw that though, take them and make them appreciate it. If they can't appreciate Elvis, there is something wrong with them. Memphis is cool without Graceland too though. There are a zillion things to do there. Of all the things to do in town, this should be your first stop. THEN you can go see the ducks, the pyramid, some baseball, or the Civil Rights Museum.