Podcast

GRACELAND – MEMPHIS HIGHLIGHTS

 

As I was growing up, the music we listened to a lot was none other than Elvis Presley. We have visited Graceland twice. Once was in 1980 and the other was in 2009. A lot had changed in 29 years. The house itself and the grounds surrounding it had not.

 In 2009, we had the opportunity to take our oldest granddaughter to Graceland. She was ten years old at the time. She had had a sock hop at school, which they played Elvis’ music and she thought that was awesome. So this trip to Graceland came up and my husband and I decided to take her to see Graceland. She was the youngest one on the trip. Everyone fell in love with her. She had a very good time, and so did we.

 

Graceland

Living Room

We visited Graceland mansion. Until you enter this mansion, you can only imagine what Elvis’ life was like. We saw thousands of artifacts and walked through the Hall of Gold. This is an 80 foot hallway that is lined with gold and platinum albums and singles representing the sale of over one billion records worldwide, more than any other entertainer or group in the history of recorded voice. We stood amazed at Elvis’ dazzling costumes, cards, motorcycles, gifts and awards, his personal effects, which included the enormous 17 carat diamond studded ring.

TV Room

Dining Room

We stood inside of his TV room and went through the beautiful dining room.







Graves and Pool

As we exited out the back entrance of the mansion, we saw a beautiful swimming pool. Back in the 50”s, you rarely heard of having a swimming pool in your backyard. If you got to go swimming at all it was at the nearest creek you could find or maybe some pond on a nearby neighbor’s farm. We then made our way around to the four graves of Elvis, his brother, Aaron and his mother and father. We continued on down to what were once the stables for horses. Pricilla Presley had these stables turned into museums for all of the memorabilia for guests like us to explore.

 

We continued across the street to visit Elvis’ private jet, the Lisa Marie, which the plane was named for his daughter. It was amazing just to be able to stand in this jet that took Elvis all over the world performing. The way it was set up, it was like a mini home. There was another museum beside the jet. It contained hundreds of Elvis’ records and tapes and every kind of souvenir imaginable.

 

We visited the Rock ‘n’ Soul Museum, which features pictures, artifacts, words and music highlight slices of our cultural and musical past.

 

We continued on to Gibson Beale Street. This is the home of the Gibson Guitar Factory. We went through the factory and saw how these world class guitars were made.

 

 

The next day we had a local tour guide to get on our bus and take us a tour of Memphis. Our first stop was at the Peabody Hotel. This hotel is famous for the “Peabody Ducks”. At 11 o’clock each day, the duck master brings the ducks down from the suite they stay in to the center of the lobby of the hotel. A crowd of people gather around the fountain to watch the ducks enter. They literally roll out the red carpet for these ducks! Basically, all they do is waddle up to the fountain, proceed up the steps and get into the water. They swim around in the water of the fountain for one hour. At 12 noon, the duck master taps his wand and ducks get out of the water. They then proceed to waddle back to the elevator and then to their suite upstairs where they are housed. I couldn’t believe it. But it actually happened.

We left the hotel and visited St. Jude’s Hospital and saw where Danny Thomas and his wife are buried.

 

There are so many interesting things to do in Memphis. If you get a chance to go, by all means, do so. You will be glad you did.

 

Works Cited

 

Our own personal experience

Google Images.com
 

Burke Christian Tours.com

 

 

 

HAWAII - OAHU, KONA, AND MAUI

As a little girl growing up, I had a dream to go to Hawaii. This dream stayed with me all through my adult years, until finally, it came true. My husband and I went to Hawaii for our 25th wedding anniversary. We contacted Christian Tours.com and started saving our money. It became a reality on April 17, 2012! We flew out of Charlotte Douglas Airport that morning and arrived in Honolulu, Oahu that afternoon. As most of you know the time goes backward going over there. We traveled over the ocean about four hours. When Honolulu came into view, I thought, “This is really happening!” That was the most magnificent feeling, to be able to experience God’s creation.



Pearl Harbor

Our first trip, while we were there, was to
Pearl Harbor. This was a most humbling experience, to be able to stand over the sunken ship, USS Arizona. Words cannot describe the magnitude of the feelings we felt, knowing that US soldiers lost their lives on December 7, 1941, "The Day of Infamy".

Soldiers still living

When we got off the boat that took us over to the ship, we were able to shake hands with several of the soldiers that are still living today. Their names are Sterling R. Cale, United States Army, Alfred Benjamin Kame’eiamoku Rodrigues, United States Army, and Herb Weatherwax, United States Army.



  





National Cemetery of the Pacific

King Kamelameha Statue

We left Pearl Harbor to take a sightseeing tour of the city. We visited the National Cemetery of the Pacific, also known as the Punchbowl. We saw such places as Washington Palace which is called The Governor's Mansion, the State Capitol Building,    Chinatown,Iolani    Palace,

                                                       and the King Kamehameha Statue

                                                                                                                                                   

tree stunt at the PCC

                                                                                     

dancers at the PCC

The next day took us to the famous PolynesianCultural Center where we had a Polynesian feast and took in   the  most spectacular show in the islands, "Hawaii, The Bread of Life".

Day three took us on a bus tour called  “The Circle Island Tour.” We visited such places as
Diamond Head, the Blowhole, where water can spout hundreds of feet in the air, then on to Pali Lookout. This was fun because the wind was so strong you could almost fly. Then to end this day we took a stroll on the most famous beach, Waikiki.

Halemaumau Creator

Day four finds us boarding our plane to take us to the big island, Hawaii. It didn’t take us but about 30 minutes to arrive. Our bus met us at the airport and took us to the Volcanoes National Park, where we visited a live volcano, called the Halemaumau Creator.

 

Ranibow Falls

Thurston Lava Tube

We walked through the Thurston Lava Tube, where lava flowed thousands of years ago. We traveled to Hilo where we visited Rainbow Falls. We then made our way back to Kona, Hawaii for a two night stay.

Day five took us on a tour of Kona where we visited such sites as Ahu’ena Heiau, which was once King Kamehameha’s place of worship and then we stopped at the Mokuaikaua Church, which is the site of the first Christian church in Hawaii.

Lahaina Village

Mt. Haleakala

On day six, we boarded our plane that took us on a 30 minute trip to Maui, where we spent the remainder of our trip. We visited the small village of Lahaina, which was once the capitol of the Hawaiian Kingdom. We took a Maui bus tour  that took us up 10,023 feet to the top of Mt. Haleakala, 
    which is a dormant volcano. We were literally above the clouds. What a magnificent view!

Iao Valley

We then descended into the Iao Valley where we
were amazed by the lush green rain forest. 

The next to the last day of our trip was a free day to enjoy in Maui. That night we feasted on an Authentic Hawaiian Luau. We saw how they prepared the pig and saw the Hawaiian dancers perform.



Maui sunset

We also enjoyed the beautiful sunset on this magnificent island. The sun goes down quickly so you have to be fast to capture this view on your camera. What a way to end the last night of our stay!

These two pictures were taken from the balcony of our motel our last day in Maui before our whale watching trip. We thought we had better get this beautiful view because we might never get to return.



whale watching

On our whale watching excursion the sun was so bright, I didn't know if I got the picture at the right or not. In my camera I saw this tiny black dot, but when I opened the picture in a better light, I was amazed at getting the picture of the tail of this magnificent creature!

When we returned from whale watching, we went back to the mainland where we boarded our plane home. It took us most of the day into the night to get back home because of the time change. We had connecting flights from California to Georgia to Charlotte.

If you ever get an opportunity to visit Hawaii, you will be glad you did. It is like stepping into another paradise.

We have traveled with Burke Christian Tours for about seven years. We have also traveled with Toney Tours. Our preference is Burke Christian Tours because they are a Christian based organization and the have so much more to offer for the money you spend. The other tour agent I talked to was First Travel of Shelby, NC. Their itinerary is set up quite different than the other two tour companies. With them, you plan your travel yourself and they take care of the rest. Burke Christian Tours and Toney Tours sets up the trips, you pay them the money and they take care of the rest, which is what we like.

Works Cited

Our own personal experience

First Travel, Rob Betz, Blue Sky Tours, Hawaii, 2013. Print.

ToneyTours.com

Udean Burke, Christian Tours, 2012. Print.

Photos by Sandra Wright



National Cemetery of

Our next journey takes on a "River Ramblings" tour. I've always wanted to go on a cruise, but haven't got my husband to say yes yet. This is the closest I've gotten to a cruise. It was a lot of fun. We rode on four different paddlewheelers on two great rivers, the Ohio River and the Mississippi River. Our first paddlewheeler was aboard the "Belle of Louisville". We enjoyed a wonderful dinner on the Ohio River.

We traveled to Hannibal, Missouri where we boarded the "Mark Twain"  and took in such sights as Mark Twain's boyhood home and museum and saw the house of his sweetheart, Becky Thatcher.

Our next excursion took us on an all day cruise on the Mississippi River to Dubuque. We had three delicious meals aboard this paddlewheeler. We sailed past wild and remote islands, high bluffs and picturesque  nineteenth century towns. We had live entertainment, games, skits, dance classes and narration from the captain about days gone by.

Our last cruise was a dinner cruise aboard another paddlewheeler on the waters of the Ohio River.

This is one of the paddlewheeler steamboats we were on.

My husband and I have always wanted to travel so we have done just that. We do most of our traveling with Christian Tours in Newton, Conover. Our first trip took us to Canada to the beautiful Niagra Falls. I have never seen anything like that vast body of water! When we saw the "falls" for the first time I thought to myself: "If people think there isn't a God, there must be something wrong with our nation." There is so much to see! We took a ride on the "Maid of the Mist" boat that took us right up to the "falls"! You have to wear a poncho to keep from getting wet. We got off the boat and went behind the falls into the tunnels.

On our journey, we visited the I Max Theater where we saw a video about how the falls came into being. We visited Rossi Glass and purchased some of the most beautiful glass you have ever seen. We took in a dinner show at the Moose Theater. We visited the Floral Clock that was actually made out of flowers.

There are so many sites to see and places to eat. We visited the College of Horticulture, ate lunch at the top of the Skylon Tower which revolves slowly on the hour so you can see all of Niagra Falls from high in the air.

On our journey home, we stopped in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania and took in the Monongahela Incline for a panoramic view of the city. We stopped in Morgantown, West Virginia and visited the home of Don Knots (Barney Fife).

If you ever get the chance to visit Canada and see Niagra Falls you won't be sorry. We are so glad we went.

I have attached a few pictures of the Maid of the Mist boat we were on and the magnificent  Niagra Falls.

Maid of the Mist boat

Niagra at its finest