Traveling and families

We started planning a family trip before covid. Then we delayed it a year. This spring, things were starting to look promising, so we went ahead with our planning.

Of course, then Delta came along. But by that time, we really had put a little too much effort into this trip to cancel. Plus we have all been vaccinated, so we decided to go ahead with it.

My brother decided to drive from San Diego, in a truck, so he could bring his motorcycle and bicycles with him. He was hoping to have a chance to ride on some of our lovely mountain roads. (And he did.)

A few years ago, we had a sibling reunion in Las Vegas, which was a lot of fun. So we decided this time to meet him in Memphis, which he was driving through. We found a VRBO, and I started trying to book flights.

Man, that was challenging. Every time I found something good, the airline would change the schedule. And then my oldest sister realized she wasn’t going to be able to come, because of some knee problems, and surgery on said knee.

We went back and forth on it, but in the end I did find adequate flights, and we had 3/4 of a sibling reunion in Memphis.

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I’m going to Graceland, Graceland – do you know the song? Paul Simon? We were singing that a lot! Any way, I wasn’t sure if I cared about Graceland, but I do appreciate Elvis Presley’s music, and it seemed silly to not go. And I actually enjoyed it quite a bit. It’s interesting how the house (a shrine to the seventies) would have seemed over the top back then. 3 TVs all next to each other! A custom made 10′ couch! A pool table! A pool!

And yet, by today’s standards, it was actually not very big, and certainly not over the top. It actually felt quite livable and homey. And based on the info and home movies, Elvis actually enjoyed his time living there, with all his family with him.

There were lots more pictures of Graceland and the museums there, but this post is loading too slow all ready.

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So we went “walking in Memphis, with our feet 10 feet off of Beale.” And we discovered why you want your feet 10 feet off – because Beale Street is kinda sticky, and smelly, and old, with lots of sketchy characters yelling at each other. But hey, we’ve been there!

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Next up was a trip on the Mississippi River, on a paddleboat. It was short but pleasant and entertaining. And I’m always generally happy when I’m on a boat. This was probably my favorite part of the trip.

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Our last stop was the Sun Studios, where Elvis got his start. It was tiny, but had a lot of history packed into it. At the end, they let us play with a real – from Elvis’ time – microphone. I’m not sure why, but it was very amusing. Maybe because you can’t hear us singing.

And just like that, it was time to leave Memphis. Bobby left to drive the rest of the way, and the rest of us flew home.