by Marni Patterson
It’s that time of year again when everyone gets out their favorite holiday movies. One that’s at the top of many lists to watch is National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation. Audiences love watching Clark Griswold (Chevy Chase) plan a fun, old-fashioned Christmas for his dysfunctional family.
The clan includes his wife Ellen (Beverly D’Angelo), daughter Audrey and son Rusty, both sets of in-laws and Clark’s cranky Uncle Lewis and senile Aunt Bethany. To add to the confusion, Ellen’s redneck cousin Catherine arrives unannounced with her husband Eddie (Randy Quaid) and their kids, Rocky and Ruby Sue.
What could go wrong in a house full of people who can barely tolerate each other? Just about everything. The Christmas tree won’t fit in the living room. Clark covers the house and roof with 25,000 twinkle lights, but they won’t come on because they’re wired through the garage light switch. Aunt Bethany’s cat chews on the Christmas tree light wires and gets electrocuted, Uncle Lewis accidentally burns down the tree with his cigar, Christmas dinner is a complete disaster, and Cousin Eddie kidnaps Clark’s boss which prompts a visit from the local SWAT team.
Visit Breckenridge, Colorado
If you’re a fan of National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation, you might want to visit where the cult classic was filmed. So, where do you go? The scenes at the Griswold home were shot at the Warner Brothers campus in Burbank, California but many of the outdoor scenes were filmed in Breckenridge, Colorado and the surrounding area. Here’s a quick tour of them:
As the movie opens, Clark and his family are driving out to the country (north of Breckenridge near Silverthorne) to find a Christmas tree. He and Ellen are singing carols and trying to get the kids to join in. The kids are rolling their eyes and wishing they were somewhere else.
Clark swerves to avoid a head-on collision with a snowplow, hits a snowbank, and the car catapults into the air and (conveniently) lands in a hilly area covered with evergreen trees (Breckenridge Golf Course on Tiger Road near Georgia Pass).
The Griswolds traipse through the snow for hours until Clark finds the perfect tree (Breckenridge Golf Course near the Highlands subdivision). He uproots it and straps it to the roof of the car because he forgot to bring a saw.
While Clark is hiding presents in the attic, Ellen’s mother closes the pull-down stairs leaving him stranded while the entire family goes Christmas shopping. He watches home movies of past Christmases while he waits for the rest of the family to come home.
The gymnasium at Summit High School in Frisco (now Summit Middle School) stood in for Griswold’s attic. It was a cover (alternate) set that ended up being very useful because Breckenridge received 87 inches of snow over five days. So, shooting outdoor scenes was impossible.
Clark takes the family sledding and coats a flying saucer with a silicone food additive his company invented to make it go faster. He prepares for his sledding run near Peak 8. The additive works much better than he expected and we get a beautiful moonlit view of one of the Peak 8 ski runs as he’s flying down the mountain at lightning speed. All of these can be found at Peak 8 in the Breckenridge Ski area.
When he reaches the bottom of the hill, we see him dodge traffic on a busy street (Summit Boulevard in Frisco) and land in front of the Toys For Tots bin in a shopping center (Wal-Mart parking lot in Frisco).
Clark and Cousin Eddie go shopping (inside Wal-Mart in Frisco) and Eddie admits he won’t be able to buy gifts for his kids because he’s been out of work for months. So, Clark offers to buy Christmas gifts for Rocky and Ruby Sue.
For More Information
You can see these sites in Breckenridge and create your own perfect holiday. The historic downtown area rivals the Griswold’s house with over 250,000 holiday lights and the Blue River Recreation Path features a display of beautifully decorated Christmas trees. You can enjoy the Ullr Fest that celebrates the Norse during December, and if you visit after the holiday season, consider planning your trip at the end of January during the International Snow Sculpture Championships.
For more on the filming of this comedy, visit https://gobreck.com/seasons/winter/national-lampoons-christmas-in-breckenridge. And check out this holiday gift guide: https://www.reeltravelsmagazine.com/2021/11/15/holiday-gift-guide-for-tv-and-movie-fans/.
