My dad loved Elvis.

We took a family vacation down through Tennessee when I was little and visited Graceland.
I don’t recall much from that part of the trip, but I do remember visiting Ripley’s Believe It Or Not Museum,
mining for gold at Silver Dollar City (which would later become Dollywood) and
Loretta Lynn’s Dude Ranch – where my dad picked up a cowboy hat and boots.

Funny, the things we remember.

So it was a pleasure to revisit this place, and curious to see this relatively quaint empire through my now adult eyes.

Next trip? We’ll squeeze in Dollywood.

The entry.

The Music Room.

The Jungle Room

The kitchen.

Walking to the basement through the mirror-lined steps.

The Pool Room.

The TV Room.

The office.

This Keep off Grass sign seems more important with Elvis’ signature included.

Welcome to My World gold record

You know those photos they charge you like $30 for?
Yeah.
We didn’t buy it so this blurry shot will have to do.

In all my visits to St. Louis, I’ve never been to the place that makes one of my favorite beers:
Budweiser.

That is, until this day.

Renard the fox, mascot for Budweiser’s prohibition “near beer” malt beverage called  Bevo.

How stay-tabs are made.

Ended the whole she-bang with some cold ones.

Erik arrived just before midnight.
I subjected him to a snapshot so I could check off that item from my daily to-do list.

Erik stopped the truck to make sure this little fella got safely to the other side.