Fifty By 50: Cool Clouds and Off To Chetwynd, BC. (Aug.6, 2021)

I had a busy morning trying to get a bunch of stuff done before hitting the road.

Freya spent the night.

They were sleeping when I left for work but when they woke up, the called me for a video chat.

It was nice to see her little face.

I have to do some training next week in Chetwyn, BC for a new admin we have starting there so Jason and I decided to go up for the weekend to check out the area.

It's about a 5.5 hour drive so I planned to leave at lunch time to head up there.

We ended up not getting on the road until 2pm.

We drove in separate vehicles because Jason will be heading home on Monday and I'll be staying for the week.

There were some really cool looking clouds around Kinuso corner.

We stopped in High Prairie to get some snacks for the road.

I was feeling sleepy and having munchies helps.

I got my go to trail mix, maybe not the best idea as I can't stop eating it but it did the trick.

We stopped at this General Store/Gas Station just before the BC border.

They had a pretty cool mascot at their front door.

Some funny signs on their bathroom doors too.

This one I thought was particularly clever.

The had some great looking salads and sandwiches so we got a couple and we also got flavored soft serve ice cream - I got pistachio and Jason got pineapple.

It was yummy.

We pulled into town and saw all these wood carvings along the side of the road - it was so cool.

We checked in then Jason headed out for a run and I just went for a walk, my belly was bothering me a bit.

There were some cool carvings right outside of the hotel we were staying at.

A Paul Bunyan/Lumberjack looking guy.

That is the hotel we stayed at right in behind him.

Nice flower display.

Cool carved bench.

We happened to be right beside carvers row so I walked along there and looked at the carvings on display.

There are carvings displayed all over town but these ones were in all together on what is called Carvers Row.

There is a chainsaw carving competition here in town each year with 10 contestants and this is where they display those carvings from the previous year.

Then when they next competition happens, these will get moved to new spots in town and the newest ones will be displayed here.

They didn't have the competition the last two year due to Covid so these are from 2019.

This one is called 'The Aerialist'.

People come from all over the world to compete and spectate at this competition.

Cool wizard.

I like the "hair" on this one.

Hummingbirds - I think.

I wish I'd taken pictures of the plaques on each of these - they had the names of the pieces, the artists and where they were from.

Swan.

Some of the details on some of these are just amazing.

I wonder if they just strictly use chainsaws or if they are able to use other tools as well?

There are just carvings every where you look.

Carvers Row.

Lady Gaga.

Spiderman.

It's amazing how smooth he was - that must have taken A LOT of sanding.

Another bird - there were lots of nature and animal inspired carvings.

I'm not sure if this was meant to be a T-rex?

It has the short forearms but not sure what that thing on his back would be?

More animals.

A diver.

A giant crab.

I walked past Carvers Row and there were more carvings strewn about every where like this guy, reminds me of Smokey the Bear.

More gorgeous flower beds too - I like how the have rows of colors.

Not exactly sure if this is a dog?

This is the front of the same piece.

This is a close up of the cute puppies that were on the bottom of it.

There was a carving of a fireman in front of the Fire Rescue building - fitting!

Another bird.

This winged horse was pretty amazing.

I tried to take a picture with it.

I was loving just wandering around looking at all the carvings.

You can see there were some across the street too that I didn't make it to.

I guess the carvers aren't allowed to see their piece of wood until when the competition actually starts so it's amazing that they come up with these pieces on the fly.

Man and woman under tree.

Another lumberjack.

Eagle/man.

Fly fisherman.

I'm not sure it is meant to be a native man with a bear skin?

I love snap dragons.

Mama and baby cub.

I love the entrance to this restaurant.

Of course - more wood carvings.

This was a neat looking carving.

Moose bench.

Another elaborately carved bench.

Chetwynd is nestled down amongst all these mountains - very pertty.

Bear, fish and eagle.

This scorpion looking one, "Killing Time", was pretty cool.

A couple of turtles.

A tiger taking down a deer.

Another with an eagle and a couple of bears.

Popular subject matter.

There were some really nice murals on the hotel right there too.

A couple of bears in a tree.

Some elk maybe?

Cool mural.

It was hard to get a good shot of this guy because he was so big and the sun was starting to set so it was causing shadows depending on which way I had my camera pointed.

I love the little mouse on his hand talking to him.

I was doing a crossword puzzle the other day and 'Ent' was the answer to one of the questions.

It was the name of the trees from J.R.R. Tolkien's Lord of the Rings series.

Jason knew the answer right away when I asked him.

I like the way the artist did this carving like a 3D picture.

Except for the beaver at the bottom.

This is looking at him from the back of the piece.

What timing because Jason actually sent me this picture and said he saw two of them.

I had no idea what it was so I had to ask him - turns out, it was a beaver.

He had finished his run and was heading back toward the hotel walking for his cool down so I headed the way he'd run to meet him.

Of course, there were more cool carvings a long the way, like this crocodile (or maybe it is an alligator)?

A dragon on a tower or castle.

I thought this little moose was so cute - one of my favorite pieces so far.

A stocky Viking.

I like the carved truck by the town center sign.

This pumpkin head one was my very favorite one that I've seen so far.

I saw this place across the street with all the lights strung and it looked like it would be a charming little place to go eat.

Turns out it was a pizza place and we went there and ordered a couple pizzas for takeout.

(It wasn't as charming on the inside as it looked like it might be but the pizza was really good).

Kody posted these pictures on Facebook.

It was the sky earlier today in Swan Hills.

I saw clouds like this once before and they looked so cool.

Jason and I were driving home from the city one day and I think my niece Morgan and my cousin Tricia were with us when we noticed them.

We'd never seen anything like it before and stopped to get out and look at them for a bit.

You can see Freya there between the two vehicles out having a look at the sky.

In other news, my sister and her two boys went to Cavendish for a few days along with my cousin Amanda and her nephew Charlie (and my mom tagged along too).

They posted some pics and looks like they had fun.