The Birthplace of the King

On our way to Memphis last week, we drove through North Mississippi.

Do you know what is in North Mississippi?  

Nothing.

Nothing, that is, except this:

We stopped in Tupelo at the birthplace of Elvis Presley!  

(Don't judge me.  It was seriously, the ONLY thing I could find for us to do to break up the trip.)   

There is a little house that his dad built and a very LARGE giftshop.  

I think three of the houses could have fit inside it.

There was also a museum, but at $12 a pop, we decided we didn't need to partake.

There was a statue of Elvis at 13.  The hand is worn from where all of the blue-hairs, foreigners, tourists shake his hand.

Afterwards we ate lunch at Johnnie's, which was a favorite hangout of teenage Elvis.  The food was good and the decor (I use the term loosely) hasn't changed since the 50's!

We did get the best family photo all year taken on the front porch of Elvis' s house:

We also stopped in the little town of Byhalia, MS.  This is where my great-grandmother lived in her later life.  I remember going to her house to visit when we were at Memo's.  It seemed like SUCH a long drive but is really only about 45 minutes away.  No one could remember her address now... I'm sure the last time I was there was 25 or 30 years ago. Before we left Georgia, I printed out a map of Byhalia.  (There are only about 10 streets in the whole town!) I did remember that there was a garage apartment in the back and the house had a side stoop and  the driveway was on the left.    We drove up and down and finally decided this was the house:

And it was!

Memo, Mamaw Walters, Mom, me and Amy

It certainly wasn't a big house (only 4 rooms) but it seemed a lot bigger in my childhood.  I was so excited that we found it!