Signs of the times & places

Although it is part of the US, California does occasionally seem like another country.

One general aspect of differentness is the kinds of signs one sees on the roadways, city streets, and retail establishments. After a day or two of noticing unusual or funny signs, I started making a photo collection.

First of all, I thought that our license plate was so apt for a California car!

Along the highway, we saw some warning signage that made us scratch our heads. I don't think the hill here in Point Reyes was really that steep...

Another highway sign you see a lot around the coast isn't funny at all, but since it's something we never see at home (or even along the Texas coast) I had to hop out and take a shot:

As Highway 1 dips and climbs along the coastline, you see "Entering" and "Leaving" Tsunami Hazard Zone signs often. Fortunately, we didn't have to head for higher ground during our stay, but we kept an eye out for what might be the best route to safety on more than one occasion.

While finishing up our long hike in Point Reyes we came upon this car parked along the road. Looks like they have all California liberal causes covered, wouldn't you say?

Some of the most interesting signs we saw involved sale or consumption of food.

The diner (Renee's) where we ate in Lakeport had this amusing sign by the door to their kitchen:

If you click on the photo of this wall, you'll see another clever sign regarding complaints.

Since Joan had heard so much about In-N-Out Burgers from ex-pat California friends, we thought we had to try one.

However, we were very underwhelmed. Whataburgers are better, in our opinion, and we were at a loss to explain the huge crowd at this In-N-Out in Santa Rosa.

In the Ferry Building in San Francisco, there were all kinds of quirky food stores.

a market for mushrooms only

we took a pass on this one

San Francisco is of course famous for its cuisine, but we found that they are also really, really serious about recycling. The trash can in our hotel room was divided into trash and recylable sections. And we saw lots of these receptacles around the baseball park:

there's even a bin for compost!

Along a San Francisco street similar to this one...

...we saw this warning sign:

I always have wondered how high profile vehicles keep from tipping over when parked along the amazingly steep San Francisco streets. So I guess they're ok if they can adjust their tilt!

Austin has some steep streets, but nothing can top San Francisco's unique topography.

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Back to scenery next time. I want to show you some closeups of life in the redwood forests.