Tat’s Bizarre Travels

Meadville, PA - My first stop this weekend was Read Between the Signs (better known as the PennDOT mural), a fantastic and exciting display of environmental art. The mural is really hundreds of road signs expertly lashed to the cyclone fence that separates the the highway from the PennDOT backyard. From what I can tell, it depicts the different parts of Pennsylvania, from the rolling hills to the snow covered mountaintops hilltops. It’s a visual representation of a John Denver song, only much, much, much, better.

When I first read that PennDOT had a “sculpture garden” of flowers made out of street signs, I knew I was in. Little did I know what it had blossomed into. In fact the flowers, impressive though they are at an average height of 6′ tall, are secondary to the mural itself.

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SHIPPENSBURG, PA - This was my favorite stop in middle Pennsylvania. I wasn’t sure at first because there was no website and the only real mention was the listing on Roadside America (the best web site in the world). It’s only about a 5 minute drive from Mr. Ed’s, and if you’re not counting down the numbers on the mailboxes it could be easily missed. The place is situated in the back yard of Ernest Helm and according to the folks at Roadside America (RA) it was built for his cats. It’s almost magical because it’s on the crest of a hill, and, if you were coming in from the south like I was, it just appears behind the normal sized house.

There were no cats when I stopped, nor was Mr. Helm or any of his family around. I’m not sure if there are still any cats. All the building have had their windows and doors covered in plexi so I don’t imagine cat’s would be especially excited to hang out in Tiny World, unless it’s just to sit on the roofs of the town. It just goes to show that someone disrespected the true awesomeness of Tiny World and now the cats (and the rest of the viewing public) have to suffer.

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