How We Spent Our Summer Vacation - Part 2

First stop? Memphis! First Memphis stop? Graceland!

Paul and I LOVED loved loved Elvis' house. It was so cool.

The house was left in the decor and condition it was back when Elvis, Priscilla and Lisa Marie were living here. The tour provided ear phones with personal narration by Lisa Marie and clips of Elvis songs.

Paul especially loved the "jungle room" where green shag carpet even lined the ceiling!

It smelled like the '70's in that house. And even though I was born in the 80's, I know what the 70's smell like because my mom had two gold couches, a gold rug and a yellow refrigerator with matching blender when I was growing up. Now there were parts of the property that had been converted/built to showcase all his gold records and suits and such.

The awards were overwhelming.

Don't you find it a bit freaky how people like to take pictures of remnants of personal affects from people they've never met? It's so weird! ...I love it! It's all about stories. There's a story in each little thing.

Here's Elvis' black leather suit..... and Paul contemplating his own masculinity.

The racquetball court had been turned into another trophy room. Floor to ceiling.

Oh it was so cute! They had horses there that resembled the very horses Elvis bought for Priscilla!

I want that pool.

So they buried Elvis in a cemetery when he first died and then decided to move him to Graceland and bury him in the backyard instead. Paul was bummed we didn't see any old women crying but with the house in great shape it's no wonder people think he's still alive!

Mmmmmm Memphis BBQ!

We stopped in Nashville real quick to get a look at my favorite band The White Stripes recording studio. We gave a shout out to Jack White.

On to New Orleans!!!

The freeway turned into this causeway that just stretched out for like 35 miles over the water. Nothing but bayou. And people lived out there!

A storm was a brewin' and the sky was bright and gray. It seemed as though we were on a freeway that was taking us to the end of the world! Like it was just going to drop off or something! My eyes didn't know what to believe.

How could people live out here? How could people NOT leave when a huge hurricane was coming? There's nothing but water! It was so surreal to see the Super Dome.

I didn't think I would like New Orleans. And I was already spooked! But we soon found the city to be very delightful, very friendly, and very delicious!

We also had gator nuggets. This is Paul's shrimp po'boy.

There was a part of the city that had beautiful homes like in Beverly Hills lining the streets.

That night we walked to a jazz club called "The Spotted Cat" and listened to some live New Orleans jazz. We couldn't help but dance around. (Please ignore obnoxious girl's back).

We stayed at the Place d'Armes Hotel in the French Quarter where a hotel hand told us if we wanted to take a dip in the pool after hours he wouldn't say anything. So we did!

I really really loved New Orleans and would like to go back and spend more time there. We didn't see any Katrina remnants but then again you don't know if a house was boarded up because of that or if because it was simply run down.

This clock is A.M.