My Trips to Graceland

I've been to Graceland four times, and plan to go again. We currently have a trip scheduled for mid-summer, and I'm really looking forward to it. Today, in honor of Elvis' 73rd birthday, I am sharing the details, and some photos from my trips to visit the home of the greatest entertainer in the history of music.

In 1996, I made my first pilgrimage to Graceland, from my home in Indiana. We didn't go with the intent to visit the mansion, we were in Memphis at a drag race, and my boyfriend at the time (who is now my husband), took me past the mansion on Elvis Presley Boulevard, and let me sign the wall, since we didn't have time to go inside. That was exhilarating, but I wanted more. When I later was married in 1999, my husband and I didn't get a honeymoon right away. We had been married about 8 months when he took me to Graceland for a belated honeymoon in 2000. It was great, but since my husband isn't an Elvis fan at all, I felt rushed to get through the mansion, and didn't get to take a lot of pictures, or see as much as I felt I wanted to. I also felt as if Graceland Plaza felt like a circus, and that people were taking advantage of Elvis. I was very sad, and didn't want to return.

This past fall, I was lucky enough to be sent to Maxwell Air Force Base in Alabama to attend school, on the heels of a deployment to Southwest Asia. While I was down there, at the urging of my husband, I decided to treat myself to a weekend at Graceland. I purchased tickets online very late on Wednesday night, and then drove from Montgomery to Memphis immediately after school on Friday evening. I stopped for a few minutes to see Elvis' birthplace in Tupelo. I was so excited, I could hardly breathe. I got a few pictures and then headed on to Memphis. Before I even checked into my hotel room, I stopped at an ATM just north of Graceland, and made a withdrawal from my checking account, so I could acquire my first souvenir of the trip - an ATM receipt.