Our first full day in Tennessee was in Memphis! We were busy, packing in as much history as we could. We started out at the National Civil Rights Museum at the Lorraine Motel. The Lorraine Motel where Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated is the front of the building. The museum has been built around the motel, with a lot of information about civil rights, going back in history to slavery. It moves through history, and all the struggles, protests and violence that have occurred through the years. It ends with a look into the actual motel room and balcony that Dr. King occupied when he was assassinated. Next you can leave the museum and go across the street to see the view from the boardinghouse where the shots were fired from. There was information about the Little Rock Nine, which was kind of cool since we had just been there.

We then went to Sun Studio, “The Birthplace of Rock ‘n’ roll”, where Elvis recorded his first song, along with other legends like B.B. King, Johnny Cash, and Jerry Lee Lewis. The studio where these recordings occurred is not only still there but is still in use to this day! It was amazing to be in that studio, which is largely unchanged, and think about all the legends who have been there and recorded songs there.

Our last stop of the day was the Memphis Rock ‘n’ Soul Museum, which again had a lot of historical information about the origins of Rock and Blues music. There was a bit of overlap in the two music museums, but both were valuable places to visit.

Next up was Graceland! After our big day of museums the day before, we were at it again. I like Elvis, I know who he is, I know his songs, but I’m not some huge fan. But how can you go to Memphis and NOT visit Graceland?! I didn’t have a lot of expectations of what Graceland would be like — but I pictured huge, opulent, garish, over the top, etc. It isn’t. They have been able to keep the house in the exact same condition and decor that was there when he was alive. There were some weird things, like green (avocado) shag rug that was everywhere including the ceiling in one room. And a rec room that had tapestry all over the walls and ceiling. But otherwise it was fairly normal looking. We saw lots of his things and memorabilia — I even got to touch his guitar. It was all a pretty neat experience and I’m glad we went.

On our way out of Tennessee we went to the Shiloh National Military Park, a Civil War battleground site. It was an epic battle that lasted two days and had more than 23,700 casualties. We arrived a little later in the afternoon than would be ideal, but we were able to look in the visitor’s center and do some of the driving tour around the site, reading accounts of what happened.