Paul Bunyan festival

Two weekends ago we went to Cambridge, Ohio to the Paul Bunyan festival. The above picture didn't come out too well because I took it through the back window of the truck as we were moving. I thought the name of the restaurant, "Bear's Den Restaurant" was amusing. We didn't stop there because we went home a different way.

As we sat in the grandstands waiting for the axe throwing, two man sawing and log chopping to start I got this picture of the pool where people try to stay upright on the log, rolling it in the water. They didn't have that contest on Saturday it was to be on Sunday and we weren't coming back the next day....darn!

Boy, these two guys really made quick work of the three slices of wood they had to saw off. Notice how their feet are spaced; some of the other contestants had boards nailed to the platform to keep their feet from sliding. From where I was sitting it looked easy.....but I am sure I couldn't have made one swipe with that big saw! LOL

This guy was using a chainsaw to carve bears! Pretty neat, they make special blades to do all the fancy cutting, pretty amazing!

Some of the bears that were carved out and for sale. I wasn't interested but maybe if they had done some horses????

There was a lot of noise around there, big chippers, shredders and a lot of chainsaws running. Most all of the machinery was for timbering or some kind of forestry work. Mike was more interested in looking at it all then me.

Here is a guy chopping a block of wood that made me cringe, I could just see that big axe slipping and chopping off his foot! They would chop on one side then try and jump around and make a complete turn to start chopping the other side until it broke into. Some of them were pretty good and really made quick work of it.

Now this was a little more interesting for me, the axe throwing; it's not easy either! I saw a lot of axes go flying past the target and land in the mud....ugh! Some of the guys were really good, there was one woman who tried it but didn't place. Hum, maybe I should set up a target back the hollow and try that..NOT!

There were two of this machines off in the distance from where we were sitting. They would pick up the logs, place them there the poles are set up to simulate the bed of a logging truck. They had to stack them without knocking over the poles and it was a timed event. Some of them got that big arm moving pretty fast.
We decided to leave about 4 since the activity was over at 5 and didn't want to be stuck in traffic. I was really disappointed that there was no Babe the Blue Ox anywhere, how can that be???? Paul Bunyan wouldn't be who he was with the ox, right?

As we stopped at a light on the way out of town I saw this sitting at gas station! Now this is more like what I would enjoy looking at!!!! Click on the picture to enlarge so you can see the painting on the side of the truck. Nice truck and trailer!!!!