When I learned that Thomas Dambo’s collection of twelve trolls called “Trolls: A Field Study” at the North Carolina Arboretum, I immediately called my mom to see if she wanted to make that the destination for our girls’ trip. Then, we decided to add CJ into the mix because she was so sad that she didn’t get to go on the last one and, well, Charleigh also loves Thomas Dambo Trolls. We’ve had the joy of seeing Thomas Dambo Trolls in multiple states now, but this was absolutely the biggest collection all at once. But, because we were in Asheville, that wasn’t all we did.

Trolls: A Field Study at the North Carolina Arboretum

A quick note about Thomas Dambo Trolls – they’re incredible, massive works of art made from recycled and/or upcycled materials that sit in natural spaces and have an element of lore attached to each of them. From wilderness to parks, arboretums or botanical gardens, Thomas Dambo’s massive troll structures can be seen all over the world. You can read more about them (and the one’s I’ve had the pleasure to see) on my post about them here.

Trolls: A Field Study is a collection of a dozen trolls that are currently residing in the North Carolina Arboretum (through February 15th 2026). These are described by Dambo as baby trolls because they’re on the smaller side, but they still stand at a towering average of 8-ish feet tall. These trolls are here on a journey to learn more about humankind, to watch people and give us advice on how to be better stewards of our planet.

One of the things I love about these larger exhibits are the interactive side of exploring them. The ones my mom and I saw in Memphis had a little troll language cypher to unlock messages about our planet. And this exhibit had a little interactive booklet and map as well. Each of the individual trolls had little messages or prompts to answer while exploring.

These twelve trolls were absolutely beautiful and placed along the natural garden trail, the creekside trail and within the garden grounds. While exploring this area, you pass the natural playground, other incredible sculptures, the nature center, greenhouse and cafe. I had never visited the arboretum here before, but wow, what a way to get to see it for the first time.

Biltmore Estate All Decorated for Christmas

I’ve been to the Biltmore a half a dozen times or so now. I didn’t know if I’d ever visit again because I do feel like I’ve basically seen it, but when the opportunity presented itself to come here at this time of year and see it all decorated for Christmas, we just couldn’t pass it up! It was filled with some truly beautiful Christmas decorations (and the shops had some really cool Christmas decor for sale – RIP bank account). What surprised me the most, though, was how into it Charleigh was! She listened to the little kids’ audio tour so intently and was so well behaved.

A Sprinkle of Nature in Pisgah National Forest

We had a couple of spare hours before the sun set, so we decided to make a spontaneous little drive to Pisgah National Forest to see the always spectacular and essentially roadside Looking Glass Falls. The flow is insanely full and while you can just see it from the street overlook, I highly recommend doing the not-quite 100 stairs to the base where you can feel the mist on your face. I love touching wild water.

Street Art, Shopping and Little Explorations

It’s always so cool to see how Asheville changes, and yet stays the same. When I lived there in 2014 and 2015, I really loved to explore the street art. I would find myself wandering around downtown and west Asheville peeking between every alley and soaking in works of art on the sides of buildings. Since then a lot of murals are similar, but many are new and different over the years. It was so fun to see some new ones and soak up some old ones with my mama and Charleigh. Check out the age progression in front of the Buddha street art. Also, my little one chose that last pose on her own.

My favorite new one was this work representing Cherokee basketry. It’s a beautiful reminder, to quote their sign that “the Cherokee people have always been here, and will remain here”. I loved learning more about their traditional basketry just from this street art display and want to learn more!

We also visited some really cool stores. My favorite will always and forever be Flora / Forage. I love the earthy, witchy, foragey vibes in this plant shop. I go every single time I’m in town – their coffee is also solid!

Then Horse + Hero, Malaprop’s Bookstore, L.O.F.T., Moonlight Makers, The Chocolate Fetish, and Asheville Gem Mine are my other favorites to visit. Special shoutout to the man working at Asheville Gem Mine who took the time to show my super nerdy 4-year-old the way that different minerals glow under blacklight. It was so much fun.

All My Favorite Food and Coffee Spots

When I go to Asheville I have my musts that I try to visit every single time. Sometimes I make it to all of them, sometimes I don’t. But this go around, we did a pretty good job. For coffee specifically I went to Forage within the Flora plant shop, and Double D’s – the snazzy double decker bus downtown.

To eat, my favorites that I was able to get to this trip were Hole Doughnuts – my mom and CJ are officially huge fans, Biscuit Head – homemade jam / butter bar… enough said, Early Girl – where I always get the yam scram and add cheddar cheese and Rocky’s Hot Chicken Shack – best damn tenders out there.

While going to Asheville and seeing all the sites and eating the food were all incredible, what this trip was really and truly about was spending time together. My mom, Charleigh and I had a lot of laughs, navigated “little one moments” together, wore coordinating pajamas and I felt all nostalgic while my mom took up our spot reading in Little House in the Big Woods to Charleigh, just like she did to me when I was about Charleigh’s age. I love these two so much and I feel so unbelievably honored to have this fate in my life to get to grow with, evolve with and love Charleigh and my mama – no matter where our feet happen to be planted on this earth.

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