Heartbreak Hotel

What a hoot and a half! Here we are in Memphis at the Heartbreak Hotel.

The whole place is a throwback to 1957.

The lobby is all dark and purple and filled with Elvis fans from all walks of life and all countries.

Our room is decorated with blown up photos of Elvis and the pool is in the shape of an enormous heart.

In the parking lot there was a huge old pink Cadillac which I tried to get a photo of, but the man drove away before I got there. Apparently, he runs a shuttle to a restaurant nearby, all in the Elvis theme-natch. I hope to get a ride in that baby.

Tonight we'll dine on Beale Street and enjoy some of those famous Memphis dry ribs!

Tomorrow we will tour Graceland before we hit the road again.

(I eventually got a photo of my pink Cadillac when it came back for another pickup.)

From my roommate:

Driving opens one to the wonderful history and landscape of this great land. Our adventure began with purpose as a great American road trip. After spending much of my corporate career outside this wonderful country, with numerous trips together to the great capitals of Europe, we decided to set out on one of our bucket list trips to visit our Western National Parks and to spend spend more time with actor Jay who is LA based.

So many people we know think that there's nothing between the Hudson River and LA, except Vail or Park City. Hopefully this blog will help them understand how vast, varied and beautiful this country truly is.

We cruised past the Gettysburg battlefield onto the beautiful Shenandoah Valley, site of so many historic Civil War battles. With the Blue Ridge mountains on one side and the Appalachians on the other. At one point Sarah heard me exclaim, "OMG, Hungry Mother State Park"! This park nests off the Blue Ridge Parkway and is the earliest of my memories of the many family vacation's that followed. We literally camped in surplus Army tents in the early 1950's as my Dad served his post PhD. internship at the Veterans Memorial Hospital in Roanoke, VA. My first taste of roasted marsh mellows over a campfire, the old Studebaker overheating on the Blue Ridge Parkway, a miscast diaper out the front window landing in the back seat. Anyway, you get the point, none of this would have happened if we'd elected a "fly-over".

So, we're ready to board the bus to Beale Street after several interesting detours on I-40 (thanks Navigator Sarah and GPS "Gertrude"). This is a down side of road travel. You don't control the idiots on the road or the construction people in Nashville who decide to take I-40 from three lanes to one for three days.

But as typical American's, we're resilient and resourceful.

And speaking of that, our Sirius radio has been tuned to the 9/11 Memorial Services for two days. Never forget!