And Everything Else...: East to West: Day Two Recap

Day One Recap Here

One of these days, I will have all of the days recapped and can then properly document my other little side adventures in Portland like the ridiculous amounts of farmer's markets and some of the cool little neighborhoods in the area.

Day Two went like this:
7:00 AM Leave Tupelo, MS and head to Gibson's Donuts in Memphis, TN
8:30 AM Eat 1-2 donuts and head to Graceland
9:00-11:30 AM Take the full Graceland tour and then make serious time to Little Rock, AR
3:00 PM Meet family for (slightly late and very quick) lunch at Whole Hog Cafe
Drive through Little Rock to see the State House and head to Dallas, TX
8:00 PM Meet friend for dinner at Spiral Diner (amazingly delicious)
11:00 PM Drive to north Dallas to crash at another friend's house for the night

Four states this day as well (three if you don't count MS that I was already in!). This day was rough because I fell behind in my schedule which meant that I wasn't able to visit with my family in Arkansas as much and I also had to push dinner and arriving at my friend's house for the night back further than I would have liked.

And I know you are all waiting for donut pics, right?

(L-R) Maple Bacon, Red Velvet, Orange Juice, Buttermilk Drop, Raspberry Filled, Cinnamon Sugar

And to be clear, I did not eat all of these! I grabbed bites off of each one throughout the day and only actually ate all of the orange juice and red velvet. These were delicious! I wish I would have gotten a picture of the sign outside because it was old school, nothing fancy--just how a donut place should be.

A little note before I launch into the Graceland pictures: I am not an Elvis fan per say. I think he was a rock and roll idol and pioneer in his day but I never really got into the music, movies, or legend. That being said, I figured that since I was in the area, I had to visit Graceland. It was about $35 for admission which included the tour of Graceland itself, various museums and the airplane tours and a coupon for the cafe. I heard so many different languages here and saw several school groups as well which was so strange since I can't imagine a bunch of 3-5th graders being excited about Mr. Presley, no matter how attractive he was.

First up: Graceland!

So, this may sound strange, but this could totally be my dream house/property. Elvis bought this when he was just 22 years old and for $40,000.
By today's standard, this could be considered a small house, but I think everything from the layout of the house to the addition of an office, stables, racquetball court (later turned into a huge display of awards and performance outfits) and the grounds themselves are perfect. Elvis was a big fan of mirrors and did most of the decorating himself, along with his wife, Lisa Marie. The room with the pool table is completely covered in the same fabric, carpet to ceiling, and the couch is also covered in the fabric. The room with the blue and yellow scheme is opposite of the pool table and the ceiling is covered in mirrors. The kitchen has carpet and is one of my favorite rooms (I would take it as-is!) and the "man cave" area has a fountain, shag carpet everyone, and a few stuffed dead animals. I took tons of pictures but will keep it brief on here as to not get too overwhelming.

The rest of the Elvis Presley experience include the automobile museum and the two planes that he used.

I can definitely see why people trek all this way to visit Graceland. The history alone is amazing and when you add in the grounds, the different tours you can take, and the gift shops (I restrained myself), it is worth the cost of the ticket.

Here is Arkansas (or at least what I experienced as I sped through!):