A Pacific Northwest family road trip
There’s a certain kind of magic in giving yourself a reason to explore places you drive past all the time but never actually stop in. That was the gift of this weekend: my mom, my girls, and I set out on a troll hunt around Puget Sound, and it turned into one of the best “just because” adventures we’ve had in a long time.
The trolls in question are the work of Danish artist Thomas Dambo, whose exhibition NW Trolls: Way of the Bird King scattered six enormous sculptures across the region back in 2023. Each one is built almost entirely from reclaimed wood and found materials, stands somewhere between 12 and 20 feet tall, and has its own personality and backstory. Each also sits in a spot that’s worth visiting on its own merits, troll or no troll. We only made it to three of the six, but that was plenty for one weekend and gave us a perfect excuse to island-hop.
If you’re looking for a low-key, kid-friendly, get-outside kind of trip, here’s how ours went.
Fuel Up First: Donuts, Obviously
No good road trip starts without pastries. We swung by the Donut Factory (they have locations in Lynnwood and the U District, and we grabbed ours on the way through) and pointed the car toward the Fauntleroy Ferry in West Seattle.
Stop 1: Bruun Idun, Lincoln Park (West Seattle)
The ferry was running behind, which turned out to be a blessing. It gave us time to wander down to the first troll before boarding. The walk there follows the beach in Lincoln Park, and it’s a genuinely lovely stretch: we picked up sea glass, watched shorebirds, and spotted a sea lion cruising just offshore.
The troll herself, Bruun Idun, sits watching the ferries come and go, playing a flute-like instrument to call the orcas swimming by. Up close, the detail is what gets you: seashells worked in as fingernails and toenails, every joint and knuckle carved with real care. It’s the kind of thing photos don’t quite capture.
We made it back to the ferry line just in time to catch our boat over to Vashon Island.
Vashon Island: Farm Stands, Ferries, and Oscar the Bird King
Vashon is the kind of place that makes you want to slow down the second you drive off the ferry ramp. Big farms, sprawling orchards, and a genuinely charming little downtown with a Saturday farmers market and bakeries. It felt more like rural countryside than a short boat ride from Seattle. (We heard the hardware store doubles as a great lunch spot, but we didn’t make it there this trip. Next time.)
Instead, we drove out to Point Robinson Park, home of the lighthouse and the second troll: Oscar the Bird King, the largest and most iconic of the whole series. He’s seated on a throne, roughly 20 feet tall, pointing down at the earth as a reminder to take care of it. His crown, made entirely of birdhouses, was an easy favorite with the girls.
From there, it’s an easy walk down to the beach, where the lighthouse comes into view. The highlight for us was a driftwood structure right on the sand that the kids could crawl into like a teepee. We spread out our picnic lunch and watched the show: container ships passing in the distance, a handful of fishing boats, a sea lion working the shoreline, and, best of all, what we’re pretty sure were porpoises or small whales, just barely cresting with their dorsal fins visible offshore. The walk back up to the car has a little bit of an incline, enough that a few fellow hikers were audibly regretting their life choices, but nothing a kid (or a grandma) can’t handle.
An Overnight Pit Stop in Bellevue
You could realistically do all three trolls in one long day, but we opted to break it up. After the ferry back to Fauntleroy, we headed toward Bellevue and grabbed a hotel for the night: dinner, a pool session for the girls, and an early bedtime for everyone. Worth it if you’d rather not cram the whole thing into a single day.
Stop 3: Jakob Two Trees, Issaquah
The next morning, breakfast and coffee in hand, we headed to Issaquah for the third and, hands down, my personal favorite: Jakob Two Trees. He’s positioned with his arms wrapped around two actual trees, wearing a colorful necklace and wristbands designed in collaboration with a local tribe, and sporting a wooden ponytail pulled back like his own little signature. Something about the way he’s built into the landscape rather than just placed in it made him feel the most alive of the three.
He sits right along the Rainier Trail, which is flat, easy, and would be a great one to bike with kids rather than walk.
The Real Takeaway
Beyond the trolls themselves, what stuck with me most was the range of people doing this exact same thing: infants in carriers, toddlers, and folks who looked to be in their 80s, all out on the same easy, mostly stroller-friendly trails, all there for some version of the same reason. There’s something nice about art that pulls in that wide a cross-section of people, especially art built entirely out of what most of us would consider scrap.
The best part of the whole trip was simply having a reason to explore areas I might not otherwise have visited, and to spend real, unhurried time outside together as a family.
If You Want to Do This Yourself
- Start: Donuts, then the Fauntleroy Ferry (West Seattle)
- Troll 1: Bruun Idun, Lincoln Park. Easy beach walk, sea glass, wildlife watching
- Ferry to Vashon Island: stop in the little downtown for the farmers market or a bakery
- Troll 2: Oscar the Bird King, Point Robinson Park. Beach access, lighthouse, picnic spot
- Optional overnight: Bellevue, if you don’t want a marathon day
- Troll 3: Jakob Two Trees, Issaquah. Flat trail along the Rainier Trail, bike-friendly
It’s an easy, flexible itinerary. Do it in one long day or spread it over a weekend like we did. Either way, it’s a great excuse to see corners of the Sound you might otherwise never have a reason to visit.