I’ve watched The Simpsons every year since the show first came out. When I was on MTV, I had a chance to meet Harry Shearer, who does voices of many of the characters. This was an exciting yet disappointing experience because it hit me that this was as close as I’d ever get. The characters themselves don’t exist. I could never go and visit Springfield and get my picture taken in front of their house. The world of The Simpsons would always be apart from my own.
Then earlier this week I watched a Christmas episode of The Simpsons where the town loser (Gil) moved in with the family for over a year. He eventually moved out of Springfield to Scottsdale, Arizona, and ended up becoming a successful real estate agent. Marge was determined to reprimand him for the trouble he caused them back in Springfield, so the Simpsons drove to Arizona.
I was so tickled to see the ever-familiar Simpsons characters drive around my town. It was nuts! After I got over my fear of having someone accuse of having too much time on my hands, I took pictures of my TV, then I drove around this afternoon looking for the real scenes. This is what I came up with:
There’s no “desert” left around Scottsdale, but the sign is pretty accurate.
(To be honest, I didn’t take this one. I tried to, but I almost got rear-ended. This picture I found online.)
Clouds are rarely in the sky in Arizona, but the sky always has fluffy clouds on The Simpsons.
That’s pretty close! I used to work at the foot of the mountain on the left.
The Simpsons’s new home in Arizona.
This isn’t a perfect match, but it’s close.
The most wild part of watching this episode was that it was a Christmas special, and I was watching it around Christmas. So I looked at the TV in my living room, then looked out the doors of my living room and saw Christmas lights wrapped around palm trees and cactus. It was a magical moment.
:::
Since I was out taking pictures this afternoon, I decided to hike through Papago Park and enjoy the 60 degree weather. Here’s my journey.
Papago Park
A desert tree
A crazy rock. That green dot in the middle is a tree on another mountain 300 feet away.
It’s hard to see in this photo, but that’s Camelback Mountain in the far distance on the right.
This is a self-portrait snapped while I was inside a cave at the top of one of the mountains. In the distance is downtown Phoenix.
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