The last stop for our first day in Seattle was at the National Nordic Museum. Right in front of the museum, standing tall and facing the afternoon sun, was the troll Frankie Feetsplinter. He is one of the Pacific Northwest Trolls and the youngest son of the Way of the Bird King, Oscar.

Things to remember when traveling

Our stroll around Pike Place Road and searching for the Pacific Northwest trolls around Seattle was invigorating. It was an exercise of discovery. We were exhausted though by the end of the day. The heat didn’t help either. It wasn’t too bad at mid 80s °F to low 90s °F but it still drained us of our energy. There weren’t enough liquids to quench our thirst. We can easily buy beverages anywhere but we were trying to avoid the heavy sugar content in commercially sold beverages. An umbrella and a good sunscreen were always a good idea to protect from direct sunlight.

In Search of the Trolls

Our curiosity was piqued by the troll Frankie Feetsplinter. We read the signs by the sculpture and talked about its creator, Thomas Dambo. There are five Pacific Northwest Trolls in the Seattle area that we can visit. It’s part of our itinerary of travel. We were excited.

Bruun Idun

Lincoln Park was right next to Puget Sound. Bruun Idun was located half a mile away from the parking lot. We welcomed walking upon realizing that we will be adding steps to our walking exercise. Walking was also a wonderful experience while watching the waters of Puget Sound. We took some time to stop and sit on one of the benches by the water along the path. There were a lot of other walkers using the same path for their regular exercise.

We spent some time admiring Bruun Idun. She is another of the Pacific Northwest Trolls. We stood by her, watched her, and observed the craftsmanship of creating her. She looked serene and mysterious. The flute that Bruun Idun was playing was kind of hard to distinguish. We eventually did see it as Bruun Idun was playing it for the orcas of Puget Sound.

Pia the Peacemaker

Pia the Peacemaker, a Pacific Northwest troll at Bainbridge Island, sat in a corner of the woods. She was posing like she was going to give everybody a big hug! Pia really looked like a peacemaker.

We had to board a ferry to get across Puget Sound to Bainbridge Island. The ferry was quite large. It was big enough to accommodate around 200 vehicles. We went up to the upper decks to enjoy the breeze, watch the surrounding water, and view Bainbridge Island as it got closer. The vehicles filed out of the ferry upon docking on the island’s wharf. After a short drive, we finally saw Pia the Peacemaker. Pia was quite popular with a steady flow of people waiting to see her. Each one waited patiently for a turn to take a photograph with her.

The distressing part of going to Bainbridge Island was seeing the line of vehicles waiting to board the ferry back to Seattle. The line was around one mile long! Whew! Well, we thought, the line will not be there by the time we will head back to Seattle. Were we wrong! The line was just as long and it took us one hour and a half to travel one mile.

Jakob Two Trees

We found our fourth Pacific Northwest troll, Jakob Two Trees, on another day and in another place. It was a short stop at Issaquah, WA just to see Jakob Two Trees. There was a half mile walk into the park trail and we happily skipped along. It was still in the early part of the morning. The sun was still casting a soft shadow and the breeze was cool. I thought Jakob looked more menacing! He looked like he was making direct eye contact while I was taking the photograph. We moved on the Leavenworth, WA after visiting Jakob. We heard that Leavenworth was a quaint Bavarian town up in the mountains.

Oscar the Bird King

We didn’t make it to Vashon Island, WA to visit the most important Pacific Northwest troll, Oscar the Bird King.

It was a joy to visit the Pacific Northwest. There were a lot of things to visit and see that we missed but we have no regrets. We will be back!