National Lampoon’s Vacation Tour Day 3 folks… We stayed at a truck stop which was behind a #Love’sGasStation… Nothing special… Very noisy with all kinds of trucks pulling in and out…

We were soon on the road ready to hit some new locations from the movie #NationalLampoon’sVacation…

We had a lot of ground to cover and were afraid we were going to be doing some of the locations in the dark… So we were rushing a little today…

The drive through the #mountains was beautiful as usual… We were cutting through some heavy #wilderness, with a lot of twist and turns, as we navigated up and down windy roads…

I like to take pictures of these original, home made billboards… At the beginning of the film National Lampoon’s Vacation, the credits start with all kinds of post card pictures of weird signs and tourist stops like the #World’sLargestHouseOfMud…

#HaroldRamos hired a special photographer who liked to travel the country and take pictures of this original stuff… A lot of the signs and weird sites have become apart of the ‘on the road’ culture… For some reason it makes me feel really special when I see these strange little #landmarks… It adds to the feeling of #freedom on the road for some reason… Like this is the only place you will ever see something like this and that makes it that more special… It’s a crazy nostalgic feeling that I can’t quite put my finger on just yet…

The drive-in in #Alamosa,CO, where they shot the car window breaking scene in Lampoon’s Vacation, was no longer there… It used to be in that big lot to the right, in the picture above… All that remains is a Shell gas station…

Aunt Edna: Is this your idea of a good restaurant? Dog killer!

Clark: I’m sure the food is just fine.

Is this your idea of a good restaurant?
Dog killer!
I'm sure the food is just fine.

Read more: https://www.springfieldspringfield.co.uk/movie_script.php?movie=vacation

Is this your idea of a good restaurant?
Dog killer!
I'm sure the food is just fine.

Read more: https://www.springfieldspringfield.co.uk/movie_

So Tracey and I decided to eat at a #Sonic close by, just for shits and giggles… Believe it or not, #TheTraveingMac had never eaten at a Sonic before… We obviously didn’t get the full on waitress experience #ClarkGriswold got in the film but It was a pretty neat experience…

You see a lot of these #PotShops in #Colorado… I couldn’t resist taking a picture… ‘Drinking and Driving’ deaths, ‘hard drug use’ and ‘illegal prescription drug use’ have all gone down drastically in Colorado since they #Legalized #Marijuana…. Just one of the positives when you legalize a harmless drug…

We soon arrived at the #ShawCreekRestArea in #Mosca,CO where Clark eats a dog pissed covered sandwich while flirting with the Ferrari girl… One of my favorite comedic scenes in film history… lol!

It was a big rest stop and as soon as we drove in, the location looked very familiar…

The rest stop is called #SouthFork-ShawCreekRestArea… Wow, what a mouth full…

We found the tree where Aunt Edna’s Dog, Stinky, was tied up… Tracey’s there to give you some help remembering the scene…

Ellen:	Oh, rusty, stop playing with the dog and come and have some lunch.
	[ Snarling ] oh, clark, look. your favorite.
	Baloney and cheese.

Here’s the picnic table the Griswolds were sitting at getting ready to eat wet sandwiches… lol… It was really cold out, so Tracey and I had to bundle up a little… We are not so used to the cold anymore, living in places like #DeathValley… We both look like a couple of weirdos, as we scrambled to find things in #TheFalcon that would keep us warm… lol…

And here’s where #ChristyBrinkley’s character flirted with Clark, leaning against her car….

Rusty:	mom, my sandwich is all wet.
Ellen:	They’re all wet.
	Oh, god, the dog wet on the picnic basket.

This was my favorite part of the whole #NationalLampoon’sVacationTour… Finding the location for the scene where Clark eats the piss covered sandwich…

And wouldn’t you know it… I reenacted the whole scene for you in a few pictures…

There I am flirting with Christy above..

Oh how the little things in life make me so happy…

We had to rush out of there quickly because we spent way too much time trying to find these shot locations… Basically, I was having too much fun… We were constantly looking up still shots on the web from the actual movie to see if we could match the mountains and surroundings to the exact film location… Maybe I should be a location manager in the film industry or something… I really love to do this for some reason…

Audrey:	russ, look.
Rusty:	Oh, excellent, they have a pool.
Clark:	Aren’t the woods beautiful?
Edna:	Clark! dinkums needs a long walk and a bath.
Clark:	Rusty, take care of dinkums.
Rusty:	Dad, he bites.
Clark:	Bite him back.

We soon arrived at Kamp Comfort where the Griswolds stayed in tents… Unfortunately it was dark already, so we did our best considering…

Edna:	Too cheap to pay for a hotel room, huh?
Ellen:	Ew, clark, this tent smells.
Clark:	[ Sniffs ] EDNA, THIS IS YOUR TENT.

Now this is the place I would like to spend a couple of weeks vacationing… It was in the middle of the mountains and was so inviting… They have #tents, #cabins and #fullHook-upRVSites…

If you look at the picture above, in the top right corner, you will notice a cabin…

Well, that cabin is the office and this is what it looks like today… I see they steered away from the hideous red cabins and decided to go with natural wood… A very nice choice…

We drove around trying to find the tent section, which was below and behind the cabins, according to the images in the film…

It also didn’t help searching in the dark… But we found these #RVSites with picnic tables… And when you walked behind the site, you could see a huge drop off…

I believe, if it was light out, I would have seen this site below… Now, I don’t know if they still have the tents up… It’s already October and I highly doubt they keep the tents up during the harsh winter around here….

We drove a little behind the tent site but it got dangerous in the dark… So we backed up and decided this was enough for the blog…

We were going to call it a night but there was still one location we could visit in the dark, considering it was inside…

And the location was #TheStraterHotel in #Durango,CO… Now, this location is very interesting because it’s the interior shot when Clark goes in and robs the hotel in #TheGrandCanyon… But the actual interior shot location is in Colorado…

So, here’s the magic trick folks… Tracey and I walked into the Strater Hotel in Durango…

Yet, Clark runs into this hotel at the Grand Canyon…

Yet we both magically end up in the same exact place even though we are hundreds of miles away from each other…

How does that happen? Lol…

Concierge:	I’m sorry, sir.
	I can’t accept this credit card.
Clark:	Why not?
Concierge:	The computer says it’s been reported lost.
Clark:	Oh, no, no, no.
	You see, my wife lost her cards in colorado, and I had to report it, and the computer’s probably saying that i lost mine, which, obviously, I haven’t.
Concierge:	Well, you’ll have to straighten that out with your bank.
Clark:	Would you take a personal check?
Concierge:	For how much?
Clark:	$300.
Concierge:	I can’t do that, sir.
Clark:	Look, I’ve lost all my cash, and we are on our way to California…
Concierge:	Walley world?
Clark:	Yeah. walley world.
	And I’m sort of stuck between a rock and a hard place, you know? I’d really appreciate it.
Concierge:	Not without a major credit card.
Clark:	Look, I have 13 cents to my name, so I can see we’re going to have to work something out here between us.
Concierge:	Look, I’ve already told you, I can’t accept a check without a major credit card.
Clark:	I’m making this out for $1,000.
	All you have to do is give me $300 in cash and keep $700, all for doing nothing more than acting like a total creep.
Concierge:	The only thing I can do is have you stay here until the check clears — 10 working days.

The register in the movie was on the counter… But I think you get the idea… Here’s The Traveling Mac robbing the Strater Hotel…

Then when Clark runs outside, he is miraculously back at #TheGrandCanyon yet Tracey and I are still in Durango…

What a way to travel folks… You can never use a movie as guide for travel… They cheat while us normal people have to travel hours to get from one place to the other…

We ended our travels at this intriguing #RestStop… #SleepingUteMountain… Can’t wait to see this in the morning! Something to look forward while waking up with a nice cup of fresh brewed coffee in hand…

What a week I’m having!