North Sea? Baltic Sea? Both!

Monday, July 20, 2026

Last night, Keith mapped our route for today. He found 8 trolls, our northern destination in Skagen, and back to Vandel for our hotel would take 9.5 hours of driving. We figured we’d have to add time to find and visit the trolls, stop for food, and time in Skagen. We realized we’d have to actually get up and get going because the sun sets at 9:52!

We actually had cars with us on the road out of Aarhus! Monday morning traffic, I guess. Sigurd, the Bird, and the Red Thing was only about 20 minutes away.

He was easier to find than the others.

We looked and looked, then asked the internet where the bird was. It said perched on his nose, but we saw nothing. Image search found no bird. Bye bird.

Next up was Jeppe. We almost missed the road, but skidded to a slow on the gravel in time to turn right. There was a sign! We felt so successful.

We drove down a lane with a few houses on it. A woman walking a dog was watching our approach. Now, that wouldn’t sound unusual, but it is in Denmark. They are known for being aloof, and we have found them careful not to make eye contact or really indicate in any way that they see you exist. Keith unrolled the window and she asked if we were looking for the troll. She said we needed to go back and take a left. Thank you!!

I thought she might be messing with us because there was a sign. We checked the sign. It has an arrow at the bottom. What? Why not just label the right road (twelve feet away)? Down the road we went. Map app said we were there. We were by a business driveway and had passed 3 houses. Was the troll at somebody’s house? We researched and went further down the gravel. Tiny parking lot! It said there would be a 12-15 minute walk.

This is the first troll with a “making of” sign. Cool.

There were bird houses that caught our attention and Keith saw the faint letters Troll with an arrow. Good thing. I would have gone every direction except that one. There was an almost invisible path going very up into the trees. Twelve to fifteen minutes there? Huh.

Keith zoomed ahead. He is hunting these guys with gusto. He almost instantly called “not 12-15. Less than one.” I scrambled up and there he was, peekin’!

A camper pulled in as we went to the car. The people avoided eye contact, as you do, in Denmark. I think it’s odd when we are all obviously there for the same unusual reason. If we were elsewhere, we would have so much sharing. Better this way today – so much to do.

We overshot Ivan, but found a pretty church.

The parking was at a park with a beautiful flower garden.

The pavilion had a thatched roof. We’ve seen enough thatched roofs this trip to feel it isn’t unusual, but this seemed a newer building. My question is who do you call for roof repair? Are there thatchers around? I think a thatcher is something else. Thatch roofer, I guess.

We walked on the path. We saw green on water that was pretty.

We saw a little building.

We saw a little building on a very steep hill.

We said hi (Oh! Hej is the Danish greeting and it is pronounced hi. It is so convenient) to some old people. After we went on, they called after us, in Danish. It was a question, but what question was a mystery. The man pointed his cane off the path, up the hill to the left. I called back, “Troll?” and he continued to indicate with his can. Up we went and there was Ivan.

I grabbed this picture to give you a clue what kind of street names the GPS lady is telling us. We are so glad they are written on the screen, because hearing and having a clue are oh-so-different.

We followed this guy through a roundabout. A bus followed him at his exit. I wish I’d gotten that picture.

I chose McDonald’s for lunch because I was craving a hamburger. I got a happy meal. I got a tiny Spiderman backpack that shoots a web. We had spicy mcnuggets – spicy! I didn’t love them. I did LOVE their mustard sauce – zippy and sweet. Keith tried the chicken teriyaki burger. Good but regular McChicken is better. We shared a caramel coconut mcflurry. Best. We will be stopping by for another before we leave the country.

Ebbe was just outside of a town. We were going through the industrial park toward nothing. I expected to see her in a field. We pulled off on the grass and followed a path into trees we hadn’t foreseen. Keith pointed out a “bridge” of sticks. He hippity-hopped right over.

I did not.

Ebbe was armed and ready for us. We came in peace, so it was all okay.

Our goal today was to visit Grenen, near the town of Skagen. It is the top of Denmark where the North and Baltic seas meet.

There had been a very steady stream of cars coming at us as we went north. It turns out all the people in Denmark, who we thought were missing, were all here! The many parking lots were full and the roads were lined on both sides with cars. Keith was just following the cars trying to get a lay of the land. As we pulled into the small, closest lot, the lights on the car in the front spot, second row, flipped. I whispered (why? I was in my car. No one could hear me), “Don’t follow. Go straight.” The car pulled out and we pulled in. RSP! (rock star parking) Charmed!

We rode on the sand worm (a big tractor pulling a big trailer) the 15 minutes to the beach we’re the waves crash.

My first thought was that popsicles are warmer.

I got used to it. The North Sea was choppy and wavy and coming at us from an angle. The Baltic was way calmer and the small waves were coming into shore.

The waves would hit each other and make corners. It was fun to watch.

This is my new selfie face.

We climbed up a hill, hoping to see a bird’s eye view of the waves. It was too far away. Instead we saw Nazi bunkers. I wasn’t expecting that, but it makes sense that this would have been an important defense location.

We drove south for an hour and stopped for caramel coconut mcflurries, again. Told ya.

We were going to see Pil, but it turns out he is on an island that needs a ferry. That was going to take more time than we had. We headed for Storm, instead. We couldn’t go where the map said because it wanted us to drive on a pedestrian path. We parked in the lot and started walking.

Oh wait. First, we used the restroom. Mine had a balloon.

The map was kind of spinny, so we guessed. I don’t really know how to express where we went. All over would be a good start. We kept asking AI for help. He kept saying we were in the wrong place. Um. Duh. He tried to give directions back, but everything we tried failed.

At one point I asked my phone if there were bears in Denmark. I felt really better when I heard no.

At one point not only were we lost from the troll, I thought we were lost from civilization. Strangely, Keith knew where we were.

AI finally figured out we started in the wrong place. He said go back to your car and drive to the right place. We drove. We drove more. We U turned. We came back. We had been in the right place after all.

We tried again. We were absolutely sure we had somehow walked right past him. We hadn’t, because he was torn down in 2024 for structural reasons. Um. We spent TWO HOURS tracking a gone troll. 🤦‍♀️🤦‍♀️🤦‍♀️🤦‍♀️🤦‍♀️

They built a nice pergola with a leaf weather vane in the middle. To be honest, we missed that the first time through, so….

Our drive home was very beautiful – so many tiny roads, going through canopies of trees.

We’ve gone under several animal crossings over the highway. Cool.

When we got to our place, there was a kitty outside. She was very friendly. When we opened the window for fresh air, she hopped right into our house. Keith made her go outside right away and closed the window. I would have ended up with her sleeping on our bed. He is tough.