Popcorn Park Zoo is a small, non-profit animal sanctuary in Forked River, New Jersey, where more than 200 rescued exotic, farm, and wild animals live out their lives after being abandoned, injured, or abused. It’s not a traditional zoo stocked from breeders — every single resident, from lions to llamas, came from a bad situation…
The Fairy Trail at Traverse City’s Botanic Garden: Michigan’s Tiniest Village
The Fairy Trail in Traverse City is a short, free loop path at the Botanic Garden at Historic Barns Park where dozens of tiny handmade fairy houses sit tucked among the roots, mossy logs, and creek banks. It’s open year-round, costs nothing, and doubles as a build-your-own craft project if you show up with pinecones…
Isak Heartstone: The Troll Breckenridge Almost Tore Itself Apart Over
Isak Heartstone is a 15-foot wooden troll sculpture by Danish artist Thomas Dambo, tucked into the forest along Breckenridge, Colorado’s Trollstigen Trail. He’s made entirely from scrap wood and pallets, he’s free to visit, and getting to him takes less than five minutes of easy walking from the trailhead near the Stephen C. West Ice…
Madame Sherri’s Castle Ruins: The Stairway to Nowhere in Chesterfield, NH
Madame Sherri’s Castle Ruins are a crumbling stone staircase and foundation tucked into the woods of Chesterfield, New Hampshire, all that’s left of an eccentric costume designer’s 1930s party mansion. The site sits inside the 513-acre Madame Sherri Forest, reachable via an easy walk from the Gulf Road trailhead, and it’s become one of the…
Great Meadow: Exploring Warrenton’s Steeplechase Grounds and Hunt Country Trails
Great Meadow is a 374-acre conserved events center in The Plains, Virginia, just outside Warrenton, best known as the permanent home of the Virginia Gold Cup steeplechase. It’s the beating heart of a much bigger story, though — a landscape of stone-walled lanes, working horse farms, and century-old hunt clubs that make up Virginia’s famed…
Big Rusty and Friends: Exploring the Burlington County Troll Trek
The Burlington County Troll Trek is a free, self-guided art trail scattered across South Jersey parks and downtowns, where 19 giant troll sculptures built from recycled and natural materials wait to be found. It started with one Danish-made giant named Big Rusty and grew into a county-wide scavenger hunt that has outlasted its original end…
Paddling the Rappahannock: Kayaking from Waterloo to Remington
NOTE TO THE ADVENTURER: This guide is meant to spark curiosity for what lies beyond the horizon — not to serve as a guarantee. Roads fall into disrepair, buildings are torn down and rebuilt, and properties change hands; 'tis your responsibility to do your own research before setting out. Always heed local and regional law,…
The Trollway of Mount Horeb: Walking Wisconsin’s Troll Capital of the World
Mount Horeb, Wisconsin has crowned itself the Troll Capital of the World, and it backs up the claim with dozens of hand-carved wooden trolls stationed along its downtown Main Street, known locally as the Trollway. You can walk the whole stretch in under two hours, snapping photos with mischievous, chainsaw-carved characters the entire way. If…
Sperryville’s Antique Barns and Mountain Views: A Half-Day Trip from Warrenton
Sperryville is about 28 miles and a 34-to-40-minute drive west of Warrenton on US-211, tucked right at the foot of the Blue Ridge Mountains where the Thornton River splits into two branches. Its antique shops fill old apple-packing warehouses and barns from the early 1900s, and the drive in delivers mountain views the whole way….
TROLLS: Save the Humans — The Wild Center’s Magical Walk Through the Adirondacks
If you walk the woodland trails at The Wild Center in Tupper Lake, New York, this year, you’ll run into six enormous wooden trolls hiding among the pines. They’re part of TROLLS: Save the Humans, a touring exhibit by Danish artist Thomas Dambo, on view June 1 through October 31, 2026, and it’s the first…