Beavers, Indians and Dinosaurs--oh my!

Driving through Peace River County, Alberta, Canada,

provided us plenty of scenery and not much in the way of towns or people.

So, when we came upon this amazing structure along the road, we screeched to a halt.

Located in Beaverlodge (of course), this big guy had a lit sign giving lots of details.

Beaverlodge, founded in 1898, is described as having a "population of 2100 and growing..." (hmmmmm).

The actual quote from the marker reads that a local entrepreneur "dreamed of giving Beaverlodge something to bolster the town spirits and encourage tourists to visit our pretty little town" so they created this BIG beaver and his log.

He is called "magnificent". Not sure if he bolstered spirits, but, one thing for sure, we stopped to look closely at him and read all the signage, so he did serve to encourage visitors like us to visit.

The same day in the same Peace River area, we veered off the highway, lured by dinosaur fossils mentioned in our Milepost book, along with evidence of the ancient sea that once covered this whole area.

P.T. Barnum believed "There's a sucker born every minute" and we proved that. After driving on a dead-end dirt road, this pile of rock stood where we expected the fossils to be. We searched and examined but never really discovered anything closely resembling a fossil. We did see lots of fine while sand from the ocean floor, however... (Go, P.T.!!!)

Of real interest was this little plot of an actual Indian burying ground

from the 1800's.

In the grave area were tokens of respect like beaded bracelets and wooden carvings.

Can you see them?

I suppose the bones of the Indians are under the big stones...

We stayed just a brief while until the mosquitoes sent us running back to the car and heading down that dirt road. Though the dinosaurs weren't there, it had been refreshing to stretch our legs and gave us something new to do once back on the highway--scratch all the mosquito bites!