By the time we made it to Death Valley in 2021 (officially for our quest – we’d already been twice before), our oldest Mikayla had already started expressing some cynicism about our national park visits. She said she didn’t like hiking and, while she enjoyed the scenery, in general she preferred watching YouTube or going to amusement parks. To give her a bit more ownership in our quest, and because I already had some first-hand familiarity with the park, we let her completely dictate the itinerary for this visit. With some help, she researched what was there and what she wanted to do and see. And she did a really great job! We also brought the girls’ cousins along for their first camping trip, which definitely added to the fun.
We were shocked when her first order of business was a hike to Darwin Falls (yes, there’s a year-round waterfall in Death Valley). She also had us visit the pupfish at Salt Creek (yes, there are fish in Death Valley). But besides that, just about everything else we did was part of the Star Wars Auto Tour, a fantastic free guide on the NPS app that leads you to the various Death Valley locations used to film “Star Wars.” Briella brought along her droid, and we had the DVDs available in the car so they could watch the relevant scenes as we went to the next spot. And when we got to each one, we re-created some of the most iconic scenes. It was so different from how we normally tour a park, and so much fun!
The Backdrop
Growing up in the Los Angeles basin, film locations were the background of my childhood. Doc Brown’s house in “Back to the Future” was the Gamble House across town in Pasadena. Ellie Clampett wrestled Derek, the school bully, in the film version of “The Beverly Hillbillies” in my middle school gym. “Max Keeble’s Big Move” saw my high school painted and rebranded John J. Curtis High School. I almost literally stumbled upon the set of “That Thing You Do” while visiting my mom’s office one afternoon. Even growing up surrounded by it, somehow it hasn’t lost its novelty for me.
It’s the same when I recognize places I’ve been when watching movies and shows. Like seeing the cloisters of Oxford University’s New College in “Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire,” the Bodleian Library in “Wonka,” or that one episode of “Leverage” that was filmed at one of my favorite childhood haunts. To this day, I can’t ride (Twisted) Colossus at Six Flags Magic Mountain without singing the “Step by Step” theme song on the lift and laughing at the parking lot in real life that was superimposed with a beach for the show. It may take me out of the story for a moment, but there’s suddenly a sense of connection, of having walked the same ground and smelled the same scents, seeing in my mind’s eye what lies beyond the camera lens.
Entering the Scene
Then there’s visiting places once you’ve already seen a movie or show for the express purpose of seeing where the magic happened. This was certainly the case for me at Haddon Hall and the Cliffs of Moher (“The Princess Bride”), Doune Castle and Glen Coe (“Monty Python and the Holy Grail”), and all the iconic spots along Route 66 (yes, “Cars” was animated, but seeing the inspiration for the elements that made that movie so authentic had the same effect). It was why I took a tour of the Warner Bros. Studio, hiked around Paramount Ranch in the Santa Monica Mountains (before and after the western town tragically burned down in 2018), and have always enjoyed Universal Studios Hollywood’s backlot tour.
These days I don’t watch too many movies. I’ve got a lot going on and have different interests now, but still film locations have some magical hold over me. It was the same when we re-created the “Star Wars” scenes in Death Valley. I’ve always liked “Star Wars” well enough, but it was really Jeremy and Mikayla (and the cousins) who were really into it. But I got really excited about doing this and jumped in with both feet. We walked towards Jabba the Hut’s palace in 20-Mule Team Canyon, attacked R2D2 (well, Briella’s R2 unit) in Golden Canyon, overlooked Mos Eisley’s Cantina from Dante’s Peak, got “lost” in Artist’s Palette, and witnessed the separation of C3-PO and R2D2 at Mesquite Sand Dunes. It was a blast, even for someone who doesn’t know the films backwards and forwards!
A New Way In
What was so cool about our trip to Death Valley was that listening to Mikayla’s experience of our quest so far and letting her take the reins for this visit resulted in a trip full of unexpected and overlapping joy – for all of us. Fully participating in her (and all the kids’) imagination brought us together in a unique way and made for memories that really embody the spirit of what we’re trying to do in this adventure. In a way, it felt like Yoda was telling me, “You must unlearn what you have learned,” so I could be open to a new way of experiencing a familiar place. I’m glad I listened and went along for the ride.
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