Our cup of Americana is overflowing this morning. Benefits of staying in the Graceland RV Park is a short morning commute to next door. While we thought we were touring Elvis’s 13 acre estate we didn’t realize that 100+ acres next door had been turned into an Elvis theme park including warehouses of memorabilia, restaurants and diners, and of course, many gift shops. What a massive complex to celebrate the King of Rock and Roll. We had an early tour and were able to stay ahead of the lines and crowds all day which was nice. We hopped the bus to Elvis’s actual house with the iPads and headphones they handed out to everyone for the self guided tour of the house and property. I LOVED it! I love looking at houses anyway (Historic house tours, HGTV, Zillow, anything) so walking through this time capsule from the 70s was amazing. Shag carpet everywhere, on the floor, walls, ceiling!

After the relaxing paced tour we explored the exhibits back at the “Elvisland” complex… the car museum (so impressive), the media room, the jumpsuits, the icon exhibit where every celebrity under the sun praises Elvis, the exhibit of his war years, his collection of awards, his airplane… it just kept going! The kids seemed entertained and were great sports about the artist they have little interest in, but I definitely caught a couple eyes rolls every time we realized there was ANOTHER warehouse to walk through, lol. There were a few interactive exhibits that kept us all entertained. And lunch on-site was great. We all agreed you don’t have to be a huge Elvis fan to appreciate his career and massive influence he had on the music industry. A great stop on our cross country road trip.

Back in Crystal Betty we crossed the Mighty Mississippi on the I-55. (Because months ago we read that a bridge inspector doing routine inspection of the I-40 that we would have crossed over found a crack so massive he called 911 to shut the bridge down immediately. Yikes!) And we entered Arkansas. A new state for all 4 of us! Our first impressions: humid, bumpy highways, vast rural landscapes sprinkled with numerous and massive churches of all kinds. Our Hot Springs National Park KOA review: smallest spots yet, little pool but cooled us all off, campground ran out of water for a bit, massively heavy bathroom door that caused bruising on more than one of us, and great location to the National Park.