Day 11 - Jackson to Memphis

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Well the day did not start well. Our 1 bedroom was 2 x Queens and young Luke had his worst snoring session yet which meant we had a sleepness night. Anyway got up at the sound of ringing cell phones in stereo at 7.30AM as we had aimed for a departure around 9.00AM.

Went to breakfast at the dining room, and we were the only people around. Just had a small serve of scrambled eggs on toast with the one piece of bacon and some OJ. We packed the Buick Enclave and were on our way around 9.15AM so not too bad.

It was quite cool around 10 degrees and we decided we would check out the downtown Jackson MS area since it was the State Capital. The storm from last night had passed by and it was a calm and overcast day but clearly it also blew away all the unseasonally warm weather we had been enjoying. Being early on New Years Day no-one was around so we drove a few blocks to see some of the city buildings, then hooked on to the interstate to head towards Memphis. We were hoping we’d get there by 1PM so we could visit Gracelands on the way into Memphis rather than doubling back as it is just across the border into Tennessee.

The drive was rather uneventful and we arrived around 1.15PM and just as I had exited the freeway I lost my bearings. I had stopped at a set of traffic lights and was about to turn left. As I turned there was no traffic anywhere so I instinctly pulled into the left lane (oops I am in America !) I had not even noticed what I had done as I drove a few hundred metres and my supposedly alert passengers had not noticed either as they were clearly looking doing what everyone else does around here and that is trying to spot Elvis. I realised there was a problem pretty quickly as I drove past a car. The road was three lanes on each side and I was driving down the middle lane of the left hand side and a car wizzed by and I suddenly thought (what the heck am I doing !!!!). He must have been freaked out big time but no horn so he was either shocked or very polite ! Anyway I just pulled a hard right across a few lanes of road and onto the right hand side without any dramas.

We decided to grab a bite to eat for lunch before doing the Graceland tour and we went to the nearby Elvis Cafe right next to Gracelands where Luke & I devoured a Hunka Hunka Burger and Fries. The photo will show how disgustingly large this was but who cares ! It was pretty cold when we arrived and the first time we pulled out the gloves and beanies. It was only about 4 degrees when we arrived.

The actual tour of Gracelands was a lot better than I expected. It started with a controlled look inside parts of Elvis’ Home and surrounding buildings with an audio guide to tell you a bit about the rooms and history etc. The kids don’t know an awful lot about Elvis but were really interested. It is well worth the visit and finished with a look at his grave (he is buried there). The crowds were the lowest they had seen for some time (being New Years Day), and we wondered what it would be like in a week’s time when they celebrate what would have been his birthday on 8th January 2011.

Afterwards we saw a number of other exhibits including his Automobile Museum which was cool, and his two planes one being a small Jet and the other a larger plane that is decked out for the lifestyle of the rich and famous.

Each time you leave an exhibit you walk through another gift shop with lots of memorabilia but it’s not cheap and we decided to go to a nearby souvenir shop to grab some goodies.

We left around 4.30PM and headed to our Homewood Suites Hotel where we were pleased to see that we had separate beds again for Luke & Elise so hopefully we will all get a good nights sleep again. Room was nice and warm when we walked in.

Decided to go to a place called the America’s Incredible Pizza Company for dinner. I had come across this place on the internet. It is basically a mix between Sizzler for buffet choice (only more options to choose from) and Timezone plus Go Karts and stuff. It was only $9.99 for Kerry & I to dine and the kids had $19.99 which included the buffet and $20.00 to play games with. Some of the areas like shooting basketball hoops only cost $0.30 compared with say $1.00 or $1.50 back home so the money lasted a couple of hours. They had a ball, and I would recommend this to anyone who wants to give their kids a bit of fun. I only had a bowl of soup after the big lunch and Kerry had soup + salad.

On the way there we passed by an area with lots of XMAS lights. Lots of cars around and decided to see what the fuss was all about on our return. Turned out we had to pay $15.00 entry but it was worth it with an unbelievable light display as you drove across this area called Shelby Farms Park for a few km’s through some farm / picnic area in sheer darkness with headlights off. Sorry no photo’s or video but this was the best XMAS light display I have ever seen and would have taken weeks to set up. Display finishes on 2nd January so were lucky to see it. It’s called the Starry Nights and I remember one section that had a ball rolling down a hill (actually about 5-6 balls but the lights turned on / off in synch to give impression it was moving) and when it hit the base of a tree all he lights on the tree would turn on. This tree was like an old dead tree with only branches in weird places but the tree was covered in fairy lights and I mean covered. Every single inch of every single branch of the tree from top to the ground. It would have taken them goodness knows how long to set this up.

Elise had a bit of an accident by kicking her foot against a metal brace sticking out of the side of her bed when we got back to our room. A bit of skin lost and some bruising but hopefully not too bad after a nights sleep.

Supposed to be down to minus 2 tonight and only a maximum of 4 degrees tomorrow. It’s time to see what Memphis has to offer and we do have a Memphis Mojo tour booked already which looks like a bit of fun.

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Photos

Elvis's Loungeroom
No flashes allowed inside so picture quality not the best.

Elvis
Look for the mirrors on ceiling and he had three TV's so he did not miss any action (they only had three channels back in the 60's)

Comments

[Julie Rae]

what about jenny
Well hello there,sounds like the diet's out the window.The food sounds great,but what's the go with poor Luke's nose.I hope he's feeling better and able to enjoy himself.You look like you are having loads of fun,keep up the great blog i almost feel like i'm there it's so descriptive. Anyway i'm off to bed,talk soon PS MERRY XMAS PPS LUV U TOOTOOLOO