Martina Landolt Photography

I’ve literally been all around the world this summer, mostly driving in a car and I finally have time to slow down and write a post. I realize our wonderful social media allows us to post while on the go, but for me, I often like to forget about such tasks and leave them on vacation while I am on vacation.

Starting with my giant friends in the park, called the “Troll Hunt” there have been a few new discoveries since my last post from the Morton Arboretum.  Artist Thomas Dambo created these sculptures from recycled wood while building them in the park.

I found out that his art is also featured in a Colorado park too, which is not displayed here.   It took three or four hours to walk around the Morton Arboretum to find three new structures with additions made to the others I saw earlier. I thought saving the environment a bit while exercising would be beneficial in more ways than one.  Yes and no, my feet were hurting, temperatures were high and the structures were not easy to find.  Even with the maps we were given, others got lost too.  Add two more young kids and time stands still sometimes.

Along our journey, just as we were about to sit on a bench that looked like it was waiting for us, a person shouted out “can my mother sit on the bench, she is tired and needs to rest, we walked so far and got lost.”

“Well of course, have a seat.”  My boy scouts actually carried portable chairs so they were set, and I just let the sweat drip off me in the shade.

Finally, we conquered one of our destinations, so the journey was the fun part, including the bee sting my son got on his toe along the trail. I know the whole park could hear his scream.  People passed on by, one asked if we were ok, not one person offered us a ride back to the visitor center, in fact they traveled in their cars in the other direction to avoid us limping along another few miles.

So here we have “SNEAKY SOCKS ALEXA: capturing the kids in the park:

Then we finally meet “JOE THE GUARDIAN” on the hill overlooking the busy street down below. I was standing by his (left), my right foot to show the scale.

An up close image shows more details of the wood hammered and sanded to perfect the sculpture of Joe’s face. He was the favorite sculpture and hardest to get to.

Our long walk back we finally find “FURRY EMA” and I had made use of the tripod I was carrying to capture our photos without being captured by EMA.

These guys were not so lucky and got stuck in her trap:

Finally after the bee stung and the hopping back, we make it to the parking lot to find “ROCKY BARDUR” smashing a car.

Oh the journey was fun, but I would take a car next time, not realizing the distance we walked.  I do ride an electric car after all, so as not to pollute the trees.  If only people driving SUV’s would not take my fuel-efficient spots, thank you. Enjoy the journey walking to the visitor center like most of us, it’s a stone’s throw away.