Celebrity Travel: Go Away With Ken Burns
Famous for his documentaries "The Civil War," "Mark Twain" and "Baseball," among others, filmmaker Ken Burns has a new film ready to roll out in 2014: "The Roosevelts: An Intimate History." Featuring Meryl Streep, Paul Giamatti and Edward Herrmann lending their voices for Eleanor, Theodore and Franklin Roosevelt, respectively, the documentary will air on PBS. Based out of Walpole, N.H., the 60-year-old filmmaker has also partnered with Tauck Tours -- a guided travel company -- to produce film-inspired travel experiences.
"We've been designing tours for Tauck that have to do with our documentaries about Chicago, jazz and New York City," says Burns. "It has been a great deal of fun. I'm for anything that encourages people to travel. People have been scared by a media culture that paints the rest of the world as alien and threatening. You live longer if you travel. It's healthy if you travel."
Q. What is your favorite destination?
A. Yosemite National Park. The first time I went was in 2003. I had one of those revelatory experiences shooting there. The views and hiking past Vernal and Nevada Falls to spend the night in the shadow of the Half Dome was amazing. It really was one of those transformative things. The national parks are such wonderful places to visit. You feel your insignificance when you're in the presence of these extraordinary geologic formations. In so doing, it makes you feel bigger. It's a funny paradox. The fact that you submit to something so much bigger than yourself -- you actually grow. It's an amazing thing that many of our national parks can make us feel.
Q. How do the national parks compare to what you had envisioned them to be from pictures?
A. We all come with an idea of a postcard version of the Grand Canyon, but it's even grander than that image. It's always better than it's advertised. It's the grandest canyon on earth. The pictures can't do them justice.
Q. Not even your pictures?
A. (Laughs) I try, but no, even my pictures and films can't compare to the real thing.
Q. What was the first trip you took as a child?
A. My dad took me to Shenandoah National Park in 1959. It was a difficult time for our family. My father was distracted by my mother's cancer, which would take her life. This was our first and last road trip together in many ways. I can remember all the songs he sang, all the conversations we had. We took impossibly long half-mile hikes for my little 6-year-old legs. I can still remember what his hand felt like.
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