Galvaston Texas - Carved Tree Tour

So hurricane Ike took out approximately 50% of Galvaston. They have now built a seawall, and raised all of the houses and buildings/businesses that survived 15 feet. They are rebuilding their corner of the world and doing a great job. The statistics of lives lost because of not listening to evacuate notifications were numerous. But some have chosen to make something out of the items that were damaged. The huge, ancient oak trees are one example. More than 35,000 trees were damaged or destroyed in Galveston during Ike, here is an article from NY Times, I have not read it, just the number - http://www.nytimes.com/2012/02/05/us/galveston-trees-killed-by-hurricane-ike-are-carved-into-sculpture.html

Anyway, we went around Galveston and took pics, I hope you can see the angels, animals, characters. The tin man and toto from the Wizard of Oz was in the yard of a house where the creator of the show was born, in the front bedroom! Some were because the individual in the family that was lost liked the items they carved. The history behind each sculpture is cool/interesting. I hope you enjoy looking as much as I enjoyed taking pics and going around to them. Here is a PDF that explains the history of the trees and how they came to be, and a bit of history on each tree.

not sure how I managed to get a small pic of Eva and I in there...kind of a cool trick if I knew how I may do it on purpose next time!

this one was my favorite. This is the grandmother sitting in the rocking chair reading to her grand kids. the chair next to her is a butterfly for the back and the rose on the other side. Very cool

I took the close up of her face because they made her look upset or angry, and the mermaids that we think of are not that way, although I guess in reality they are supposed to be mean little things. 

This one is modest!