Graceland is A LOT smaller than I had pictured it. It's not actually a mansion, more like a fairly large house, and it is just a 70s swag as you may have envisioned.
The famous gates were open so I couldn't get a great picture...
Over the front door.
The famous 8 ft. white couch
The King never allowed guests upstairs, and it is still off limits to visitors today.
His parents' room and bath
Dining Room
Kitchen with state of the art appliances!
Basement living room area w/bar (there was a bar in every room, basically.)
Touch my ceramic monkey.
Pool table/Rec Room
Look at these fabrics ... can you imagine looking at them high on Quaaludes?
Why yes, that is green shag carpeting on the walls and ceiling of that stairwell. These stairs could only lead one place...
THE JUNGLE ROOM!
Lisa Marie's swingset
Love this sign of the office door.
Green phones, blue typewriters, industrial adding machines...the pinnacle of modern office technology.
Grounds
This building housed the racquet ball court and gym. Now it's more a museum display of Elvis outfits and memorabilia.
Back of the house
The pool
The curtains used to pull back to reveal the racquet ball court. This is the old gym building...obviously it was only for very serious workouts!
Especially if your workout included the need for a beverage. I believe the tour said that Elvis didn't actually drink, but kept all kinds of beverages on hand for his guests.
This cross was originally marking his mother's grave at a public cemetery. When they moved the family to Graceland the figures were added.
Elvis' twin brother remains buried in Mississippi, but they've placed memorial marker at Graceland.
His mother
His father
and his grandmother are all buried at Graceland. Poor Minnie Mae outlived them all.
The King:
an eternal flame...especially for LaNae.
TCB = Takin' Care of Business - with the lightning bolt it was his "thing". You can see it on the wall of the basement room (yellow w/monkey), as well as throughout Graceland and his plane.
One of my first memories is of watching coverage on TV of Elvis' death. I would have been about 3 months shy of my 4th birthday.
The famous Pink Cadillac
I have to say the guys that were wandering the car museum were in awe. I was like, "hey, that's a crazy purple car."
I took this photo for Nikita...I am sure it is her dream car.
Da Plane, Da Plane!
The seat belts throughout the plane are 24 karat gold.
Elvis' bedroom on the Lisa Marie; it too had a 24k gold seat belt, as per FAA regulation (the belt, not the 24k gold).
The "tiny" plane.
I love the color scheme.
This was definitely something to see, but I was surprised by how small it really was, and surprised by how devoted his fans still are. We had a couple of kids in their 20s in our group and I never could decide whether their enthusiasm was sarcastic and kitschy or genuine, but for most of the people there is was unquestionable that they loved Elvis Presley.
