Travels in TV Land, Part 2: South Park, Springfield, Quahog
Where are they: Which Springfield is the Simpsons' Springfield?
Last week I brought you the first installment of Travels in TV Land. This time I'm kicking it up a notch and exploring destinations in your favorite animated TV shows--so what if they're fictional! Let's open our minds, people.
South Park, Colorado - Unlike the town of South Park featured in a certain Comedy Central series about politically incorrect fourth-graders, the actual South Park is a huge glacial valley amid the Rocky Mountains. Beautiful, but pretty much devoid of anything but a gas station. A more welcoming place is Denver, about 60 miles away. Book the Ultimate Escape package at the JW Marriott Denver at Cherry Creek, where, in addition to your room, you'll get a $100 gift card to Neiman Marcus, a $100 certificate to Nectar Spa, two cocktails at Second Home Bar, and valet parking, all for $339. After this indulgence, you'll need a shot of culture, and there's no better place than the Denver Art Museum.
Quahog, Rhode Island - The kids of South Park are lightweights compared to the appallingly offensive Griffin family of Family Guy. Ironically, their hometown of Quahog is based on Providence, Rhode Island, one of the country's most liberal cities. Here's proof. Thankfully, Family Guy's rabid fans now have a posh place to hang their hats: the Renaissance Providence Hotel. A lofty $100 million renovation put it on Condé Nast Traveler's 2008 Hot List of the world's best new hotels. And with a $189/night price tag, you'll have enough left over for a city tour.
Springfield, ? - For the entirety of its 20-year run, The Simpsons has never revealed the location of Springfield. Even the fanatics running this exhaustive archive haven't come up with a conclusive answer. And no wonder: There are 71 Springfields in the U.S. In which of these towns do you think The Simpsons takes place? Let us know and we'll come up with the best travel deals there.
Further reading:
* Travel in TV Land, Part 1
* Boldface: Celebrity travels
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one of the most clever blog posts I've ever read! Can you please opine on whether or not the "The Drunken Clam" acutally exist? I would love to throw back a few there.
Posted by: spaceball2 | December 05, 2008 at 12:29 PM
I'm fairly certain that "The Drunken Clam" is a figment of creator Seth MacFarlane's imagination. However, I recommend tossing back a local microbrew along with a farmhouse lunch at La Laiterie Bistro. -- Beata Loyfman
Posted by: CelebTracker | December 05, 2008 at 12:39 PM
What a great blog,B.!
Every time you come up with different and very usefull ideas. 2008 Hot List Hotel so not expensive and close by... I'll start to plan trip to Rhode Isl. next.
Posted by: myau | December 05, 2008 at 01:31 PM
Giggity giggity!
Posted by: azul2079 | December 06, 2008 at 02:19 PM
Clever post, Ms. Loyfman. Too bad you didn't cover "Futurama"!
--nyjim
Posted by: nyjim | December 06, 2008 at 05:05 PM
Apologies for the Futurama omission, however as far as I know, travel deals in space are tough to come by: $20 million per ticket is a tough price tag in this wobbly economy. -- Beata Loyfman
Posted by: CelebTracker | December 08, 2008 at 11:38 AM
I really liked your cartoon based travel blog. It's hard to be original, witty and succinct all at the same time and you pulled it off. I think the real Springfield is Springfield, Vermont. It hosted the premiere of the Simpson's movie on July 10, 2007 but that's not the only reason. It has just under 10,000 people (animated Springfield is also quite small). The mayor has a Boston-esque accent like JFK and Massachusetts isn't too far from Vermont. Also, animated Springfield seems to be culturally/socially up to date like a northeast city (not like cities in the Midwest) and isn't far from airports or the ocean so I'm going to go with Springfield, Vermont.
Posted by: greggo72 | December 11, 2008 at 01:29 PM