During our trip to Chattanooga, my sister wanted to go to Coolidge Park and see the hand-carved antique carousel they have there. What a fabulous idea that was!
It’s gorgeous. And huge. And we got to ride it!
I’ve already forgotten his name. All the animals have names.
The carousel is an 1894 Dentzel carousel, restored by a man named Bud Ellis and his team of wood-carving artists from the Chattanooga area.
There are 52 hand-carved animals on the carousel, and they’re all fabulous! I’ll show you a few of the ones I took pictures of.
Lots of ornate and beautiful horses.
They had a bucking bronco, and I thought about riding it, as I’m sure it’s the only bucking horse I’d ever be able to stay on!
A rabbit, a fish, a couple of ostriches, a lion, a couple of goats, a tiger, a giraffe . . .
They had a couple that were just on display and not mounted on the carousel.
I loved it. I wanted to ride each one of them in turn, just to say I did it. Will I ever grow up?
On the way home the next day, we detoured a little through Memphis, and took a tour of Graceland. My sister has been there before, not long after it was opened up to the public for tours, but I had never been.
I’ve always liked Elvis, but was not a huge fan, so I had never thought about actually going to Graceland.
However, now that I’ve been there, I love Elvis even more, and I’m so glad I went. It’s a very sad tour.
We toured the house and grounds, the airplanes, and the car museum. This is the only picture I took. This car is the car that Elvis was driving the last time he entered the gates of Graceland on the day he died.
IF you believe he’s actually dead . . .
I personally would like to believe he’s still alive, and that he has lived a good and peaceful life in the way he wanted.
Thanks for sharing your trip with us. Your pictures were great.