The rest of our Nashville tour

So while we did enjoy the whole tour I will say it really does feel rushed and like you don't have enough time to enjoy and browse at the places you visit.  But we did get to see many things so that was good. On the tour and an expected stop was to a local Nashville honky tonk. 

We ended up at Legends Corner.

And true to form there was a guy playing hoping to make it big. 

He did let us know that any tips received that day were going towards his dental work.  Gotta love a singer who's keeping it real.

The walls were covered with various memorabilia and other items which of course I found very interesting.  Could've stayed longer but again, we were on a time budget on this tour.

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On the way out I did run into my famous friend and he graciously posed for a pic.

Fun, fun times and yet there was more to come...

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Our Nashville Tour

After a fun filled day touring Graceland we headed toward Nashville and just relaxed for the rest of the evening.  We planned on taking a Gray Line tour of Nashville the next day.  We had no idea how much they pack into one tour but we would soon find out.

 

Our first stop was the Ryman Auditorium which is known as the birthplace of country music. 

 

Lots of cool and interesting stuff to see but we really didn't have very much time to enjoy and browse at our leisure.

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It's always interesting and fun to tour a historic place.  Next time we travel there we'll plan on spending more time.

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Here's the two of us having a blast onstage.  The paparazzi went wild and the audience clamored for our autograph when it was over. 

So after the really quick tour we were shuttled off to tour the Country Music Hall Of Fame.  Now this place is big and again, we really needed more time to enjoy it.  Just another excuse to go back! :)

The building itself has meaning. The windows are like keys on a piano, the hand rails are shaped like treble clefs just to name a few.

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My favorite things to look at are the vintage things at an exhibit.  I just think they are really cool and interesting.

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One of my favorite pics.  It's somebody's jewelry...I've already forgotten who it belongs to but I thought it was pretty.

Technorati Tags: The Ryman Auditorium,The Country Music Hall of Fame,tour,Gray Line,Nashville,Tennessee Trip

My Reese's Puffs DJ Name Mixer

So I eat Reese's Puffs cereal and on the back was the info on how to get my DJ Name Mixer which was an opportunity I just could not pass up.  There are actually two ways to create your own DJ name:

1.  Take the street you grew up on and the name of your first pet, then change all the "i's" to "y's"!

2.  Take the name of your favorite movie or Superhero villain, then add the first letter of your middle name!

So Option 1 for me resulted in this name:

 

Kyle Cyrcle Fonzye

Say whaaattt????  On to option 2.

Option 2:  I couldn't think of my favorite villain or Superhero.  I kept think of Cruella Deville but that really isn't my favorite.  It's just all I could think of.  I am not sure how awesome my Option 1 name is but that's all I've got to work with.  So from now on please refer to me as Kyle Cyrcle Fonzye otherwise I may not answer.

They (and by they I mean the folks at Reese's Puffs Cereal) also offered me a chance to make "My Reese's Puffs Rap" and of course I had to do that as well.  Feel free to add a bebop beat behind these amazing lyrics.

That peanut butter chocolate I must possess

Is the combo that I savor that I will address

Reese's Puffs, Reese's Puffs, in your bowl, in your bowl!

Recognize the taste that I craver

Reese's Puffs, Reese's Puffs

Wow peanut butter chocolate flavor

So crucial to my chomping vernacular

That peanut butter hookup is oh so spectacular

Reese's Puffs, Reese's Puffs

My Reese's Puffs are l-l-lyrical

Each peanut butter orb is oh so spherical

Reese's Puffs, Reese's Puffs, in your bowl, in your bowl!

But WAIT!!  There's more...

I then used my online code to unlock some AMAZING stuff!

After I went to reesespuffs.com and entered in my now not so secret code I received the following message:

Congrats!

You just unlocked THE MOTORCYCLE DANCE AND THE GUITAR LEG FLAIR MOVE.  This means you are one of the few who can do these special

Close X

So I think there was supposed to be more to the message but that's all I got. So this is DJ Kyle Cyrcle Fonzye signing off until next time!

Graceland!

After enjoying breakfast at The Blue Plate Cafe and enjoying the Duck Parade at The Peabody we were headed to see and tour Graceland.  Our hotel package was called the "Elvis package" and included the Graceland Platinum Tour, includes admission to: Graceland Mansion, airplanes, Automobile Museum, Sincerely Elvis Museum, and Elvis After Dark.  It also included an Elvis Presley Celebriduck™ and we will treasure it always. ;)

The parking and museums are to the right and the actual mansion is to the left.  All I can say is WOW!  We are not huge Elvis fans by any stretch of the imagination and we were there for over 4 hours!  We were even rushing through the last bit because we were so tired.  As you can imagine you can buy anything and everything Elvis there. 

Because we checked in using our iPhones, we got an extra treat.  These two amazing stickers.  The nice lady let us know if we had checked in using four-square we would have received a poster. 

I know you're jealous but try to control yourself.  So we traded in our voucher for our tour and museum tickets.

We had a photo op right off the bat!  You gotta love that for sure!

So we got our tickets, our headphones and got on the bus to head across the street to tour the house.

Graceland is a National Historic Landmark in case you didn't know.

I looked up at the wrought iron chandelier and there appears to be a birds nest there. 

So we enter the home and we immediately see the living room with it's massive white couch.  We also were treated to a view of the dining room and one of the bedrooms.

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We also were able to see the tv room, the famous jungle room and the kitchen to name a few more.

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You gotta love this sign.  I may make one for my job.

So there was still lots more to see. 

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Now I don't know if you would necessarily say it's the "highlight" of the tour but I think a lot of folks go to primarily pay their respects at the gravesite. 

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We got back on the bus and headed back across the street to tour the museums and go through all the shops.  Here's M signing the guest registry. 

I am still wondering if I was somehow, inadvertently caught on tape...I hope I wasn't embarrassing myself.

Tons of cars to look at in the car museum.

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Here's what I ate while at Graceland.  Let me just say it was...alright.

Elvis also had some planes and those were on display as well. 

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Of course this one was my favorite.  Bet you can't guess why.

We had a super fun time and spent a lot more time there than I thought we would.  If you're going near Memphis, you need to stop by. 

Technorati Tags: Graceland,Memphis,TN,mansion,Elvis exhibit,museums,National Historic Landmark,AFWM,Air Force WingMoms,AF WingMoms,WingMom,travel,Tennessee Trip,fun times

Blue Plate Cafe & The Peabody Ducks

We got up the next morning and decided to try out the Blue Plate Cafe - Memphis.

113 S Court Ave
Memphis, TN 38103

(901) 523-2050

Inside we found a cute little restaurant with cheery yellow walls and blue checkered tablecloths.  I looked around to see if any big deals were being brokered over breakfast but didn't see any.  They had cool artwork for sale on the walls.  Never thought about going to a restaurant to buy art but hey ~ I'm not knocking it.

The menu was printed on newsprint paper and in addition to the menu items it also offered some reading material.  I thought it was kind of a cute format to put the menu in.  Not really sure how cost effective it is but hey....it was original. 

I of course opted for the French toast with a side of ham and M had his usual eggs over easy.  I like French toast.  And ham.  That's why I always order that and I figure that's as good as a reason as any.  I thought the food was pretty good.  No complaints that I can think of.  You should check it out and tell them I sent you.  They won't remember me but at least you'll have them scratching their heads for the rest of the day.

We walked back to the hotel to get ready to see the Duck Parade.  You know how you think you are looking all cute and everything and then you notice something about your outfit?  Yeah well after I got back to the hotel that happened to me...

 

Now why didn't someone stop me and say..."Hey Lady, you've got a sticker on your pants."  But no one did and M didn't notice it so yeah, I walked around town with that on my leg.  We finished packing up our things and headed downstairs just in time to see the famous Duck Parade.

I noticed this on the sidewalk outside the hotel.  Thought it'd be cool if they still had this.

Like seriously, could you just imagine baby alligators swimming in the fountain?  So what you need to do is get to the lobby early to watch the Duck Parade.  At least earlier than I did and get a good seat.  I sat on the floor which wasn't awful as I was right there in the front.  Sat next to a kid from Texas but didn't know him.  Anyway the ducks come out of the elevator and make their way down the red carpet towards the fountain. They swim in the fountain all day and make the return trip at 5pm. 

I saw this sign and thought it'd be a good title for an album.

Edward Pembroke was a former circus animal trainer originally hired as a Bellman in 1940.  He volunteered to care for the hotel's resident mallard ducks and bring them to and from the lobby each day.  He taught them to march along a red carpet and, ever the showman, incorporated a red carpet and march music into the ceremony, thereby inventing the now - famous Peabody Duck March.  He was The Peabody's original Duckmaster, and served in that capacity until his retirement in 1991.

Here's the video of the ducks coming out of the elevator and down the red carpet into the fountain.

After watching the duck parade we took some time to tour the Duck Palace that was on the rooftop and we looked around the rest of the hotel at some of the cool things that they have on display.

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I always like taking pics of things that have meaning to me.  Mailboxes always remind me of M.

My Dad was a phone man so that's why I take pics of phones.  They remind me of him.

I also like vintage things. 

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I thought this was humorous....

We had a blast and that's just what we did in the morning.  We got in our car and headed out.  We were going to Graceland! 

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