Memphis Vacation: Grizzlies & Graceland

Sunday, March 27th
Sunday was our first full day in Memphis, but it was really more of a half-day. Since we’d didn’t get to bed until 5am, I ended up sleeping until almost one! Eventually I dragged myself out of bed and we went for a late (VERY late!) brunch at Cafe Eclectic, which was close to the house where we were staying.

Nutella & Strawberry Stuffed French Toast @ Cafe Eclectic
BEC (Bacon, Egg & Croissant) @ Cafe Eclectic

Nutella & strawberry stuffed french toast for me; bacon & egg croissant for Taylor.

That evening we headed downtown to meet up with Zach and Amy for the epic Memphis Grizzlies-San Antonio Spurs game. I’d never been to a professional basketball game before, although Taylor had- in fact, he saw the Grizzlies when they were the VANCOUVER Grizzlies, ahah!

Spurs/Grizzlies Game
FIRE

This seems insane to me, but maybe that’s just because I’m used to hockey games, which have less fire. Anyway our seats were so close we could feel the heat from this!

Spurs/Grizzlies Game
Spurs/Grizzlies Game
Tanie, Amy & Zach

l-r: me, Amy, Zach (maybe one day Taylor will take a picture of me that is less hideous :/)

Spurs/Grizzlies Game

SUPER GRIZZ

Grizz-Grannies & Gramps

In addition to Grizz (the mascot) and the Grizz Girls (the dance team), we were entertained by the Grizz Grannies and Grampas Dance Team. Not pictured: the halftime BABY RACE lol wtf.

Grizz Win

Final score: 111 to 104. The fact that the home team won made this night extra fun. I just love a good jumping out of my seat screaming and clapping sporting event!

After the game we all went for dinner at Coletta’s, where Taylor tried the famous BBQ pizza and I got spaghetti sauce on my scarf.

BBQPizza @ Coletta's

Monday, March 28th

Outside of Graceland

Monday was a day to ourselves, which we spent on the quintessential Memphis tourism experience: GRACELAND. First though, we needed coffee, and when we spotted one of the few Starbucks in Memphis I’m sorry to saw we both let out an involuntary cheer!

The Oasis

Taylor embarrassed me by taking this picture so I wreaked my horrible revenge with this one:

And Taylor was also there...

So. Graceland. In real life, it’s so much smaller than it seems in pictures! Like, the decor is crazy over-the-top but size-wise, it’s just a regular house.

Graceland
GracelandGraceland
Graceland
Graceland

Elvis really seemed to have a thing for creepy monkeys.

Graceland

The pool room was absurd- the walls, ceiling and some of the furniture were all covered in the same fabric.

Green shag carpet on the walls & ceiling in the the stairway.

The Jungle Room- please note more creepy monkeys.

Taylor in the backyard at Graceland. There was a squirrel back here and people were freaking out over it. A squirrel.

Tanie in Graceland.

We both abandoned our audio tour headsets pretty quickly.

GI Elvis

Awesome Jacket

This jacket had unicorns on it!

There were a couple displays of fan “art,” of which this was the most sterling example.

Look at us!
The sad room.

A couple of awards.
Morbid Graceland
Graceland

We both found the graves super creepy 🙁 Honestly I think the best part of Graceland for me was the super weird people who came to see it. Also, idk if you know but the upstairs of the house (where the bedrooms are) is off-limits, and now I can’t stop wondering if it’s preserved like the rest of the house, and if so how often is it cleaned, and by whom. These are the thoughts that plague me, haha.

Later that afternoon we went downtown and wandered around. We checked out the Sterick Building, which is this abandoned skyscraper that we absolutely never planned to explore illegally.

Sterick Building

We somehow stumbled across Local, a place I’d wanted to check out after Amy sent me a link to an article about this bacon dessert they have.

Food of the Gods

They call it the Ice Cream Sandwich à la Mode and Taylor didn’t think twice about ordering it, while I had the Bad Ass Chocolate Brownie

Chocolate Brownie Ice Cream @ Local

We also had actual food there (I think Taylor had a BLT or something and I had a giant plate of fish & chips) but the desserts were what we really cared about!

Taylor at North Barksdale

One of my favorite parts of being on vacation: unlimited husband time!

Coming up: American Dreams and American Soul
I added some of Taylor’s pictures to my first vacation post; you can see it here.

5 Replies to “Memphis Vacation: Grizzlies & Graceland”

  1. I grew up in Arkansas, about an hour from Memphis. Is it sad that I recognized exactly which Starbucks y’all went to based on the parking lot?

    Your pics made me home sick.

    I’m going home and to Memphis at the end of the month for the Beale St. Music Festival and I can’t wait. Y’all should definitely check it out sometime.

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