George Lucas modeled the forest moon of Endor in “The Return of the Jedi” from the Redwood Forest in California. A few years back my wife and I went to San Francisco to celebrate our wedding anniversary. One of our stops was to check out the redwood trees on the outskirts of San Francisco. We learned that the banana slug was the inspiration for Jabba the Hutt. I learned a few things about my favorite movies from that trip.
This past weekend when I was in San Francisco with the rest of the Life of Dad crew for the Dad 2.0 Summit, my Star Wars experience got upgraded. John Pacini and Doug French used their Jedi mind trick to help persuade the good folks at LucasFilm and LEGO to create a once in a lifetime experience. So THANK YOU DOUG and JOHN for making that happen!
On Friday evening we got into a bus to check out the Letterman Digital Arts Center. That center is home to Industrial Light and Magic, LucasArts, and Lucasfilm. No one on that bus really knew what to expect. Once we got there we all stopped at the Yoda statue to either take selfies or just capture the 900 year old Jedi Master in all his glory.
Things got even better when we all stepped into the main office and all the fanboys and fangirls marveled at the life-sized statues of Darth Vader and Boba Fett. We all were jumping around from movie prop to movie prop as our phones added pictures by the second. I loved seeing Darth Vader’s 
lightsaber and Han Solo’s blaster. There were models of Stormtroopers, Queen Amidala, Darth Maul, and many more. There were movie posters scattered everywhere. This was nerdvana at its finest.
Next we moved into a movie theater that George Lucas designed himself to watch a few cool Star Wars featurettes. We even watched the trailer to “Star Wars VII: The Force Awakens.” The acoustics in that theater was amazing. As we the first featurette started we saw George Lucas talk about how his vision of Star Wars came together on the screen. There were scenes from the films and other movies that LucasFilms help make look and sound better. Seeing Yoda in a theater that Lucas built was indescribable.
Sitting in that theater and watching my favorite movie franchise with the best picture and sound quality is something I will always take with me. Fellow Star Wars fans know what I am talking about. Words can’t describe all the emotions that were running through me. I felt as if I turned back the clock to when I was a boy seeing these films for the first time. That was the type of magic that was in the air.
The fine folks at LEGO even gave out a few prizes to some lucky people. One of those lucky people was Ryan Hamilton from Life of Dad. He won the LEGO Ewok Village playset. As I went to shake his hand and 
congratulate him he asked if I wanted the set. After a few hundred times of asking him if he was sure I then bombarded him even more thank-yous. Ryan you are the best sir!
As we all left the theater to go to the cafeteria we had to make our way through the campus. As I walked by the statues, the paintings, movie props, and more I ambled as slow as I could to take it all in. I thought about who had strolled down these halls to work on a project or set up a meeting to make the next biggest sci-fi movie. Even though I was walking as slow as I could part of me wanted to run down the hall to see what was next.
Even before I got into the cafeteria I heard the beeps of R2-D2 and the laughter of fellow geeks. I walked into the room to see people forming a circle as if they are watching a performance. In the middle of that circle was R2 and one lucky fan getting his picture taken with the droid. One of my fellow geeks nailed his picture with R2. Creed Anthony asked me to take a picture on his phone. As I took his phone Creed put his hood up and recreated the scene from Star Wars where Princess Leia was giving R2 the Death Star plans. Well done Creed…..well done.
After getting my picture with R2 I saw that there were some Stormtroopers available for a photo opp. So you know where I was headed to next. Finally as we sat down to a table and shared some snacks we talked about the wonder and excitement that one place can create for men who were turned back into boys that night. That night will stay locked in my brain as one of the best experiences I had in regards to my fandom of Star Wars.
It was tough to leave that campus. I could have stayed there forever. Yet as Yoda once said, “Twilight is upon me, and soon night must fall. That is the way of things.” The night had ended and it was time for us to go, but remember that time, I will.