If you live anywhere near Warrenton and want a real Blue Ridge Mountain view without driving to Shenandoah National Park, Sky Meadows State Park is your answer. It sits about 30 minutes from Warrenton in Delaplane, Virginia, and its Piedmont Overlook Trail climbs through open pasture to a ridge with sweeping views of the valley…
The Trolls of Detroit Lakes: Minnesota’s Giant Wooden Treasure Hunt
The trolls of Detroit Lakes are five giant wooden sculptures by Danish artist Thomas Dambo, hidden across Detroit Lakes and nearby Frazee, Minnesota, along with a sixth “villain,” the Golden Rabbit, hidden somewhere in between. You follow riddles from troll to troll, decoding symbols as you go, on a real-life scavenger hunt that can eat…
Lucy the Elephant: Walking Inside Margate’s Six-Story Elephant-Shaped Landmark
Lucy the Elephant is a six-story, elephant-shaped wooden building in Margate City, New Jersey, standing 65 feet tall and covered in sheet tin. Built in 1881 as a real estate promotion, she’s now a National Historic Landmark and the oldest surviving roadside attraction in America, and you can actually walk up a spiral staircase inside…
Rita the Rock Planter: Thomas Dambo’s Hidden Troll in Victor, Colorado
Rita the Rock Planter is a giant troll sculpture built entirely from recycled wood by Danish artist Thomas Dambo, kneeling on a hillside between the old mining towns of Victor and Cripple Creek, Colorado. She’s on her knees, patching holes left behind by 19th-century gold miners, and you have to hike a short, rocky trail…
The World’s Largest Pipe Organ Is Hiding Inside an Atlantic City Arena
The world’s largest pipe organ isn’t tucked inside some grand European cathedral. It’s built into the walls of a sports and concert arena on the Atlantic City Boardwalk, hidden behind the same scoreboard that hangs over hockey games and Miss America. It’s called the Midmer-Losh, and with an official count of 33,112 pipes, it’s officially…
The Troll Family of Bernheim Forest: Mama Loumari, Little Nis & Little Elina
Deep in a Kentucky forest about half an hour south of Louisville, a pregnant giant leans against a tree while her two kids wander the woods nearby, one staring at his own reflection in a pond, the other arranging sticks into a giant feather. They’re not real, obviously — they’re wooden trolls named Mama Loumari,…
The Colgate Clock: Jersey City’s Giant Timepiece With a Secret Twin
The Colgate Clock is a 50-foot-wide octagonal timepiece sitting at ground level on the Jersey City waterfront, staring straight across the Hudson River at Manhattan. It’s been glowing red at night since 1924, it was once billed as the largest clock on Earth, and — here’s the part most visitors never learn — it isn’t…
Ole Bolle Hides Behind Portland’s Nordia House — Oregon’s Own Forest Troll
Ole Bolle is a 19-foot-tall troll made of reclaimed wood, hiding in the woods behind Nordia House at Nordic Northwest in Southwest Portland. Built in 2023 by Danish artist Thomas Dambo, he’s crouched over a little red cottage, lifting its roof like a car hood as he peers inside for a snack. Seeing him is…
Luna Parc: The Wildly Colorful Art House Hiding in the New Jersey Woods
Luna Parc is the mosaic-covered, sculpture-packed home and studio of artist Ricky Boscarino, tucked into eight and a half acres of woods in Sandyston Township, Sussex County. It’s been called the quirkiest house in New Jersey, it opens to the public only a handful of days each year, and no photo really prepares you for…
Finding Bruun Idun, the Flute-Playing Troll of West Seattle’s Lincoln Park
Bruun Idun is a giant wooden troll sculpture, built entirely from recycled materials by Danish artist Thomas Dambo, tucked into the forest above the beach at Lincoln Park in West Seattle. She’s shown mid-song, playing an enormous flute out toward the water, and finding her requires a short hike through the park’s trails down to…