The Delta Blues....

So Greg and I finished up today in Memphis by visiting the infamous Graceland. To my surprise, it wasn't as extravagant as I expected. The actual structure of the mansion was smaller than I was expecting. Of course, the compound that its located on was very large with stables, a seperate racquetball room, garage, etc. At Graceland they only allow you to tour the first floor of the mansion - which again wasn't as impressive as I was hoping but we did see the infamous "jungle room" and Elvis's "media room" which I am sure was probably impressive for his day but pales in comparison to the media rooms of today. What I enjoyed about the media room was that it was decorated in charger colors (no lie!) - yellow and blue! After the mansion we saw his burial place, his cars and even toured his private plane. All in all it wasn't too bad. There was way more people than I was expecting and we only saw one Elvis look alike! What I found the most interesting was seeing all of his gold records and realizing the impact that Elvis had on the music world. Obviously I knew he was like the best selling record artist of all time but I had no idea how many number one hits he had, how big his movie career was, or how many records he broke with his concert attendances and such. I also didn't realize he died so young- 42 years old. I imagine that his celebrity must have been a heavy burden to carry.

After Graceland we went down the Beale St- home of the blues. We waked around and ate lunch at BB Kings Blues Club where while we dined ,we were entertained with a house blues band. The band wasn't bad and had an 88 year old steal guitarist!! After Memphis we took off for Franklin, TN ( where Greg's family is). We are currently in a restaurant before we head over to see the fam.

Overall, Memphis wasn't too bad - however, I don't know if I would return. I had heard that it was kind of a dirty city and there were sketchy parts. I most certainly agree with this assessment. While downtown seemed to have much potential to be a thriving city- it seemed bare (possibly b/c it was a Sunday) and there were police everywhere which instead of making me feel safe, actually confirmed my sense of sketchiness to the city. The city does have a rich music history which made it cool for our visit.

Tomorrow we will be making one of our longest treks (9 hours!! eeekk) to our final destination --- RALEIGH!! I can't believe the time has almost come for us to be back to reality. This whole time it has felt as though we were on vacation and will be returning to sunny San Diego. I think it will really set in once we are in Raleigh and we see our new place. Despite the long drive, I hope its pretty since we will be going through the blue ridge mountains and Ashville.

I will write again tomorrow to let everyone know we made it :) :)