Saturday, May 28, 2011

Red Hot and Blue Memphis Music Scene

Today we headed out for a day of Memphis music. Our first stop? The Gibson guitar factory. Since it was Saturday the workers weren't in, but it was still cool to see the process of putting the guitars together. Lots of work! One guitar takes 3 weeks! Unfortunately they don't allow photos, so the only one we have is this one of our tickets.



We then quickly stopped by the historic Peabody Hotel to see the famous ducks. The Peabody ducks march in every day at 11am to hang out in the fountain, and march out at 5pm led by a duckmaster. To get the full story check out this link. We didn't get to see them march, but we got to see them hanging out. Very cool!


After our duck encounter, we headed to the famous Sun Studio, where now-famous artists like Elvis Presley, Johnny Cash, and Roy Orbison recorded in the 1950s. Sun Studio still gets action to this day from artists like U2, John Mellencamp, and Ringo Starr. Chunk even got a picture with the microphone that these great acts have used!

 



We then hopped the free trolley to Graceland . Important tip: Park at Sun Studio for free and their free trolley will drive you around to all the good spots. Just be sure to take the studio tour first! 


We were expecting something gaudy, but Graceland was a very understated home. For those who don't know, Graceland was Elvis's home in Memphis. We upgraded to the platinum package, and got to not only tour the house, but we got to see his cars, clothes, and the Lisa Marie plane. 



 




Below you can see some of the rooms of his house, including the living room, dining room, jungle room, pool room, and kitchen. The second floor is off limits to tourists out of respect to Elvis.








Out back is the meditation garden he used to use, but it now serves as a resting place for Elvis, his parents, and his grandmother.  




Did you know that Elvis bought Graceland at 22? And that he was a huge philanthropist? Learn something new every day!

So that was our second day here. Tomorrow we head home. Originally we had planned to go to St. Louis, but we'll have to save that for a trip out West!

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