Tales from the Man who would be King

Rex Jaeschke's Personal Blog

Signs of Life: Part 11

© 2017 Rex Jaeschke. All rights reserved.

From time to time during my travels, I come across signs that I find interesting for one reason or another. Sometimes, they contain clever writing, are humorous, or remind me of some place or event. Here are some from trips to the US states of Idaho, Wyoming, and Montana, and Korea and Japan.

 

An unexpected sign at the Denver, Colorado, airport, pointing to the (supposedly reinforced) toilets!

 

A bear-proof locker in a US National Park.

The yellow sign says, "Be bear aware. If it smells to a bear; Please, take care. Lock it up! Food Storage Required."

 

Of course, "A Cut Above" implies "Better than Average", but this hairdressing salon was, in fact, upstairs!

 

This menu was in a restaurant some 10,000 feet (3,000+ meters) up a mountain, next to a chair lift. Personally, when it comes to pizzas, I'm more familiar with "vegetarian" and "meat lovers", but herbivore and carnivore also work.

 

To have a "bun in the oven" is to be pregnant. So, this store sells new and used maternity and baby clothes.

 

After first seeing this in a chemical toilet at a state park, I've since also seen it on an airline on an international flight. For those people used to eastern-style toilets, over which one squats, western-style toilets can be a challenge.

Click here for details of toilet-related injuries and deaths.

 

Yellowstone National Park has a lot of geysers, and visitors are reminded regularly of the dangers of stepping outside the safety areas. Aparently, this tourist can't read German or Chinese.

 

While these stands are quite common around the world, the term "Mutt Mitt", where mutt is a term for a dog of unknown ancestry, and mitt is type of glove, was new to me.

 

A typical set of mailboxes in rural Montana.

 

On closer inspection, we can see that the fifth mailbox from the left is for the Snyder family. I have no idea, however, if there are any rattlesnakes on their road.

 

While this sign doesn't seem so interesting on its own, it makes sense if you see the more common one at restaurants, that says, "No shirt, no shoes, NO SERVICE!"

 

Pray, Montana, is a small town on the road leading north from Yellowstone National Park to Livingston.

It turns out it was named after a man whose family name was Pray, and is not suggesting you should say your prayers, as you go through.

 

This country store had all the things your average teenager might want!

 

Now I've heard that the Koreans are hard workers, but until I saw this in the window of a restaurant in Seoul, I had no idea their days were so long!

 

As I walked through the neighborhoods of Kamakura, Japan, I kept seeing signs like this. They tell you how high above sea level you are. Unfortunaetly, it's up to you to know if that's high enough in the event of a tsunami!

 

Interestingly, I saw this sign in Japan. As to why it was written in English remained a mystery.