Postcard from the road: Meadville, Pa.

We pulled into Meadville, Pa., at 10 p.m. our first night on the road. Our fun detour in Indiana had us looking for a hotel a little later in the day than was wise. After finding no room at any inn in Grove City, we called around and found a place up the road a ways in Meadville. We were happy to find the hotel in the dark, lug in our bags and crash.

The next morning we pulled out of the hotel looking for a gas station. As we approached the first traffic light, I pulled out the camera and started shooting pictures through the windshield of the amazing sight on our left. We pulled into the gas station across the street for a fill up and I still wasn't close enough. I had to get closer--it was a garden made entirely from road signs! Speed limit, adopt-a-highway, street signs, you name it. Some genius had turned these ordinary signs into a flowers--I was in love.

After a close up look (and more pictures) I knew we had to be on the road, so I finally jumped back in the car. As we drove by the front of the building next to the garden I saw that it was home to the Crawford County Pennsylvania Department of Transportation. It was only as we continued to drive away that we saw the entire diorama made from road signs complete with a town hall and school bus.

If you every make your way to Meadville, Pa., be sure to take a look at these awesome works of art. Thanks to the power of the Internet, you can learn and see more about these Arts and Environment Initiatives on the organization's web site. Click on "Signs and Flowers" for more on what's pictured above and "Read Between the Signs" to see an amazing 1200' x 9' sculpture constructed from signs.

note: travel log not posted in real time