The Peabody Ducks (con't), Elvis, and More

About five minutes before 5, the Duck Master, wearing a fancy red uniform, gave us a history of the Peabody Hotel and the Peabody Ducks.  The ritual was fun, and the excitement was palpable.

 

Then finally, the march began!!  Click here for the video.

A couple of hours after the march, Lee and I visited the ducks on the roof.  Their abode is not as fancy as I expected.

For all animal lovers out there, here is a bit more of the story.  The ducks (mallards) are raised on a farm outside the city.  Once every three months, the ducks are rotated out, and are retired from their duty.  There is always one male and four females, although recently the person who raises the ducks has been supplying eight females, because the original five don't always get along. The ducks are in the lobby fountain from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. each day, and don't wander, we were told.  If you ever go to Memphis, be sure to see the ducks!  The ritual of it, and watching the people watch the ducks, is (are?) as much fun as watching the ducks.  This is a must-see event.

One cannot visit Memphis without visiting Graceland.  Lee and I are not fanatic Elvis fans.  I like some of his songs, but don't go out of my way to listen to them.  But if you are in Memphis, you have to see Graceland at least once, right?  Graceland and Elvis are a part of American musical history.  So, off we went.  Fortunately Graceland isn't terribly crowded on weekdays in August, so we didn't have to wait for hours to see the house, but I did feel rushed going through.  All visitors catch a shuttle bus from a terminal across the street from the house.  The two driveways heading up the hill in the middle of the photo below lead to the home:

Here is the house.  I always thought it was right next to the main road, but it is not.  The front yard is very large, and provided some privacy.  The house itself looks grand, but wasn't that big.  The front portico makes it look larger and grander than it is. 

 

The house has not been touched since the day Elvis died, in 1977.  The decor reflects the time period as well as the person.  Elvis liked color.  Here is the living room:

I normally wouldn't include too many photographs of the house, but just in case there are some Elvis fans reading the blog, I will.  Dining room, below:

The "Jungle Room":

The media room in the basement.  It was said that Elvis was always surround by books, and watched three TV channels at once.  He liked to keep up with the news.  Above the TVs is a large movie screen (rolled up in the photo).  The house was apparently always filled with people, and Elvis liked to entertain.

The "Play Room", coated with accordian-pleated fabric, is psychedelic, a bit too much for me.

As Elvis's trophy collection grew, he ran out of room in the house, so he had a special building constructed not too far from the main house for his awards.

His racquetball court now houses more awards and costumes. 

I liked the first one:

Oddly enough, one of the gift shops sold Elvis look-alike costumes for about $2300.  I told Lee he should buy one for Halloween, but he refrained (thankfully).

We arrived one week after the anniversary of Elvis's death, and there were several wreaths given by different people and organizations marking the event, in both the memorial garden and just outside the house.  Elvis's parents are buried here, as well as Elvis himself.

The brick wall at the entrance of the property is full of graffiti - fans signing their names:

Back across the street, in a "mini-mall" of Elvis museums, is one that contains several of his automobiles.  Two planes are also housed at the site, and visitors can walk through them.

Okay, that was WAY too much Elvis.  I have to add a note to this.  The telling of Elvis's story here was sanitized.  Very little was said of his drug addictions, of "friends" taking advantage of a good deal, etc.  Graceland is more like a fan club memorial than a museum, but it is incredibly popular so I guess it has its place in the world.  And there were people from all over the world.  I heard languages from Asia, Europe, the Middle East, Russia, and some I didn't recognize at all.

I have one more attraction to cover, one that was suggested by a few people that we met along the way.  It is the Mud Island Mississippi River Museum and River Walk.  The museum was good.  I liked it because it contained some unexpected twists, such as a life-sized steamboat interior, and a portion of a life-sized ironclad boat as used in the Civil War.

There were also several scale models of river boats of all kinds from over the years, including the evolution of armored boats used during the Civil War.  These boats were generally civilian wooden boats that were clad in iron:

The museum also included sections on Army Corps of Engineers techniques for controlling water flow; evolution of bridge designs; and Mississippi River Valley music.   Subject matter was broad and eclectic.

Outside the museum is the river walk.  It is a scale model of the Mississippi River, five city blocks in length, that visitors can walk.  Some people walk IN the model river, but the bottom is uneven so I wouldn't recommend it.

The scale model is so large, you can see it on Google Maps!  And this is only a tiny portion of it:

Cities are included.  Below is Memphis, with its bridges from West Memphis crossing the river:

The topographical accuracy and intricacy of detail is amazing, beautiful, and impressive:

Tributaries from as far away as Colorado are part of the walk:

It goes all the way to New Orleans and the Gulf of Mexico.

We did not walk to the northern end, although Lee wanted to see Illinois.  It was too far to walk on such a hot day, and the museum was closing soon.

Here is one last view of the Mississippi in some of its meanderings.

We are headed next to Oklahoma City, Amarillo, then Santa Fe.  We are staying only two nights each in Oklahoma City and Amarillo, mostly because of the heat, but will stay in Santa Fe for several nights.  The temperatures there are supposed to be in the 70's, so it should be pleasant.  I am hopeful that the monsoon rains will have lessened by the time we get there.  The forecast, at the moment, looks promising.