The reason for our trip to the Adirondacks with to see Thomas Dambo’s Save the Humans travelling trolls. They’ve been at the Wild Center since June, and will be there until Halloween.
The Wild Center was a lot of fun to wander around. They’ve gone a great job with the activities available. There was a really cool tree walk and interactive art exhibits. The thing I enjoyed watching the most was the Raquette River Roll – this was set up along the Fen Walk. It was a collection of Rube Goldberg runs for balls, using the slope of that trail. And it was uphill as well – there were fewer on that side of the loop, but they hide figured out some cool designs to get balls uphill. Someone had a really good time designing the tracks, and there were so many kids enjoying that trail.
But, on to the main event. There were six trolls through out the property. Most were in very easy distance of each other – Kamma Can was the furthest out, at the bottom of the Raquette Roll. I know some people have had to skip her – I suspect they had young children in tow. A reasonably healthy teen or adult should be able to take in all six.
Having seen a number of permanent trolls now, it was interesting to note the differences with these guys. They’re not as ornate – only one has hair. You can also tell in some cases how they probably take them apart – seeing more permanent anatomy makes that a bit clearer. That’s not to take away from the artistry of this set – they still all had so much personality, and it’s so great that they can move these around for people that otherwise wouldn’t get a chance to see any trolls in person.
Ronja Redeye is right at the entrance. I will say, I was impressed by how good everyone was at allowing pictures. Everyone automatically took turns, and paused between groups. The more avid photographers also took pretty good advantage of different angles and times between parties moving.
Rosa Sunfinger was next – she’s at the corner of the parking lot, and we almost walked by her because were were concentrating on the entrance to the Stickwork walk.
Sofus Lotus is set up right between the Stickwork sculpture and the tree walk. He’s listening to the ground, and has one eye closed to concentrate on that. I loved that detail.
Basse Buller is set up in the Pine Play area, which has a lot of room for kids to build things (mostly with sticks), so he fit right in there.
As I mentioned, Kamma Can was the furthest away. She’s a treasure hunter, and her collection spread out the furthest from her location.
Ibbi Pip was my favorite. She’s in the Forest Music section, so you walk up to her on a loop with a specially commissioned piece of music playing. You see her bird houses before you see her – they become thicker on the trees the closer you get. She really came across as a gentle soul.
On the way back up from Kamma Can, as a total tease, we could just barely see the new, permanent troll that’s going in. I’m really excited they were able to make this happen. We will probably have to come back at some point to see this one. We can see it’s surrounded by a stone circle, and it does appear to be adult sized.