Travel Tip #25 - Have Fun with Hollywood Connections

     Over the years, we've dragged our daughters to many different historical sites around the country. The ones they've enjoyed the most are the ones they feel a connection to. One way we've been able to do that is to choose sites they've learned about - in school, books, TV shows, or the movies. One reason I really like the National Treasure movies is that they visit several historical sites during the course of each movie. When we visited these sites, our daughters showed more interest in those sites than some of the other ones we saw because they recognized them from the movies. For example, in New York, we visited the Intrepid and Trinity Church. In Philadelphia, we visited Independence Hall and the Liberty Bell. In Washington DC, we visited the Library of Congress, the National Archives, and the White House.
     In Virginia, we not only visited Mount Vernon, but we took the special National Treasure: Behind the Scenes Tour in which they gave us the inside story behind the filming process - what was real, what was faked, where different events took place, and how they even changed the script after discovering that there was a "secret" underground passage on the grounds. Another Hollywood inspired tour we took was the Night at the Museum Tour at the American Museum of Natural History. I'm sure other places have similar tours.
     Another fun thing to do is take fun pictures reminiscent of the movie. For example, we took a picture of our daughter hiding in the bushes at Mount Vernon where Nicholas Cage changed into his tux in National Treasure 2.

National Treasure II

     I got a picture crossing the bridge in the Plaza de Espana in Sevilla Spain, where George Lucas filmed Anakin and Padme crossing in the Naboo scene of Star Wars Episode II.

Star Wars Episode II

     Some of the other places we've visited with Hollywood connections are: the lake house in Seattle where they filmed Sleepless in Seattle, the Smithsonian (Night at the Museum II), the Lincoln Memorial (Night at the Museum II), the steps of the Philadelphia Museum of Art (Rocky), Gettysburg (numerous Civil War movies), Jamestown (Pocahontas), the Alamo (The Alamo), NASA (Apollo 13), the River Walk (Miss Congeniality, Cloak & Dagger), the Freedom Trail (Johnny Tremain), Niagara Falls (Superman II), Times Square (New Year's Eve), Tiffany's Jewelry Store (Breakfast at Tiffany's), the Empire State Building (Sleepless In Seattle, An Affair to Remember, Independence Day), and the Statue of Liberty (just about every "end of the world" style movie ever made). There are others, but you get the idea.
     So the next time you are trying to figure out how to make an historical site or museum interesting to your kids, look for a Hollywood connection and try to watch the movie as a family before going. It can make a 3 star experience into a 5 star one.