I credit my grandma for a significant part of who I am today. While my mom made sure to pay the bills, my grandma was the one that put food on the table. As in physically placing a plate of food in front of me every day until I left for college. She nurtured me with sliced mangos while sharing the stories of her wild teenage years and her determination when she first came to the U.S. While she fed me arroz con leche, she also fed me with hopes and dreams of a future vastly more remarkable than what had been offered to her. She sacrificed daily for her daughters and then helped care for their children.

My grandmother has always been generous with her love and patience for me. Now that I could travel the world, I was sad that I couldn’t take her along for the adventures. She got tired quickly, and her health was waning. It was a sobering realization that she would not be around much longer, and my grand plans of taking her to walk the steps of the Vatican or shopping in the bazaars of Morocco had to be tapered.

I took my grandma to Memphis, Tennessee, to celebrate her 78th birthday. Specifically, I took her to visit the home of her longtime crush, Elvis Aron Presley. She and her king were already familiar. Elvis lived at her home in the form of lamps, calendars, license plate frames, throw blankets, and whatever memorabilia others gifted to her. He was everywhere at her home, but she had never been to his.

She was so overjoyed she cried tears of joy – frequently. She cried when I told her about the trip, then again while packing, and as we waited to board the plane. And again when we landed and waited for our shuttle to the hotel. But the misty tears stopped once the shuttle to the Guest House at Graceland arrived covered in Elvis images. His songs greeted us the second the doors swung open and then Grandma couldn’t stop dancing. In her seat, in the hotel room where Elvis serenaded us from the TV menu screen, and as we walked down the halls to explore the four-star hotel his former wife Priscilla designed in his honor.

While finally sitting down to grab a bite at one of the hotel restaurants called EP (which stands for Elvis Presley of course), she got misty-eyed again. Go back to dancing I told her. She laughed and shared that Elvis died when she was still in Guatemala and she never got a chance to see him perform live. This was essentially a dream come true for her and she thanked me for making it possible. This is where I cried and realized this trip was going to change the nature of our relationship for the rest of our lives. She had been taking care of me for decades, and now I was going to spend the week making sure she rested, hydrated, and remembered to take her medication.

Graceland is like Disneyland for the older generations who grew up with the King. While my grandma ran off to visit room after room in his mansions and look at exhibit after exhibit of his jumpsuits, cars, and planes, I looked after her.

I saw her bound upstairs with the energy of a teenager and wolf down a meal so we could squeeze in another attraction. I saw her dance her little heart out every time “Viva Las Vegas” played, which was often. Most of my photos are actually of her looking at the exhibits because those are the memories I want to remember of my grandma: happy, energetic, and enthusiastic.

On the first day, we walked in 100-degree weather for ten hours. I really thought we would wrap up sooner, but Grandma was absolutely determined to see everything at Graceland. So like a kid tugging at a parent at Disneyland, she led the way to Graceland, where we got VIP tickets to tour his home while skipping the lines. Our ticket allowed us to revisit the mansion as much as we wanted, and Grandma took full advantage. We got to see how Elvis styled his home, the opulent additions he made, and, judging by the number of bars and lounge areas, how much entertaining guests meant to him. We toured his backyard and racquetball court, where he rode his horses and even watched his home movies. We visited his pool and then paid our respects to where he was buried alongside his mother, father, and grandmother.

From there, we returned to the main Graceland tourism compound where we saw about six other museums housing outfits he wore, jewelry he owned, and police badges he collected, all showcasing overall the life he created. The last one consisted of a museum about his daughter Lisa Marie and her life as a performer and her advocacy work. It was brief.

Then we visited another museum that featured every celebrity or performer that had ever paid tribute to Elvis or who was influenced by him. This ranged from Kristin Chenowith to Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson. Another space was dedicated to everything surrounding his time in the military, with his uniforms on display.

For meal breaks, we went to Vernon’s, which was a barbecue restaurant named after Elvis’ father. Next door is a dessert shop named after his grandmother, Minnie Mae. We stayed so late, we missed the last shuttle back to our hotel, but I called, and they kindly came back and picked us up. Grandma didn’t get enough of her boyfriend, so we went to the hotel theater where they play an Elvis movie nightly at 7 p.m. On this occasion, we enjoyed “Viva Las Vegas.” On the way back to our room, we saw the hotel offered a complimentary late snack of peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. Grandma wasn’t interested and instead took us to the lobby bar, where we had Elvis-themed drinks like the Blue Hawaiian and Pink Cadillac. I swear, that night my grandma hummed herself to sleep.

The rest of the trip was much slower since we got most of Elvis out of the way but did visit the following places:

Arcade Restaurant

This was Elvis’ favorite restaurant which serves his favorite friend, the peanut butter and banana sandwich. You can also sit in his favorite booth.

Sun Records Studio

Elvis got his big break at this studio and we learned about the birthplace of rock’n’roll. We also learned about other artists who recorded there (Jerry Lee Lewis, Johnny Cash) and even held the microphone the King himself touched.

Beale Street

We stopped to grab amazing Memphis BBQ at King’s Palace and strolled past bar after bar as blues streamed out the front doors. I’m sure Elvis did the same, but it wasn’t in any guidebooks. However, we did stop by Lansky’s, a clothing store whose owner is credited for helping Elvis craft his unique look. We explored the Hard Rock Cafe and wandered into the Memphis Music Hall of Fame next door, then promptly wandered right out. After visiting Sun Studio and Graceland, it was definitely not worth the price of admission.

Memphis Riverboat Dinner

Even though it’s not Elvis-related, I want to mention this spectacular riverboat dinner show we attended. You receive a plate of food on a humble styrofoam plate as you sit on a riverboat with forty or so other people and listen to a band play blues for two hours. They also took requests and sang my grandma “Happy Birthday.” Shout out to my man Joe on the keyboard and sax!

We spent the last minutes of our weeklong trip sipping on mimosas while waiting for our airport shuttle. Grandma thanked me one more time for the experience of a lifetime and said she could die happy. I told her she couldn’t die yet because I didn’t have enough hands to carry her body and our luggage through the airport to get home. She and I laughed at our morbid humor (which I clearly got from her) until our shuttle driver yelled he was leaving us. That’s when we jumped up and chugged the rest of our mimosas (something I also got from her) and ran out the door to board our Elvis shuttle, where he would sing to us for one last time.

Overview:

I had a great time fangirling over Elvis alongside my grandmother, and a must for any Elvis fan. However, if you go, go all out on the Graceland experience because no other spot will do the King justice. However, to have the best time, if you aren’t a huge fan, bring one along. Seeing their excitement is half the fun. When it comes to Memphis overall, I had to learn to slow down. Uber’s were few and far between from our hotel, taxis were unreliable, and people just weren’t in a rush. If you take in the city at the pace of a leisurely stroll, you’ll be just fine.