Of course, I'm not referring to the sea turtles in Finding Nemo, or the Teenage Mutant Ninja variety.

I grew up in Denver, and spent the largest part of my time away from Colorado in Utah. It was only during our occasional trips to California (where my grandparents and a few other relatives lived) that my sisters and I got to observe the little square reflectors that poke out of the roads all along the west coast. I imagine that they're actually fairly common in other parts of the country as well - in principle they are a great idea. Basically, they make it really easy to see the lines dividing the lanes on the road (which otherwise would merely be painted there) when it's dark. There are white reflectors that go on white lines on the road and yellow reflectors that go on the yellow lines on the road, and your headlights are perfect for illuminating them. Aside from those, some people don't notice that there are also irregularly distributed blue reflectors on the road. Those actually have nothing to do with assisting your driving, they actually mark fire hydrants (if you see one, look around - there's probably a fire hydrant right across the street).

Side comment - I never really thought much before about how reflectors work (both the kind on the road and the kind you put on bicycles). Apparently the idea is that they have tiny mirrors inside them that are angled 90 degrees from each other. If you shine light at any angle into two mirrors facing each other at 90 degrees, the light will always come basically straight back at you.

Where I grew up, it was unreasonable to have these on the roads, because they just don't last that long when snow plows are scraping stuff off the road several times a year. Here around Seattle, it only snows a couple of times a year, and almost never enough to justify heavy plowing. Apparently there are "plow-resistant" reflectors as well, but for how much more expensive they are, I suspect they still won't last more than a few years in a place where snow is so common.

Aside from the reflectors, in Seattle at least (my wife and I just can't seem to remember for sure if these existed in southern California where she grew up), there are a large number of white and yellow rubber dome-shaped things in the road. In fact, it often appears that they install these little "bumps" on the roads in lieu of actually painting lines on there. I suppose this way, the lines are even more visible (both night and day), and if you start drifting to the edge of your lane, you're basically guaranteed to hit a few so you can die awake. Of course, I can't imagine they are even in the same ballpark for cost, and I'm not sure that they have to be replaced much less often than roads normally need to be repainted. My wife started calling these little bumps in Seattle roads "turtles," although I'm not sure what inspired her to use the term.

So speaking of turtles needing to be replaced, there was one time when my dad was in town, visiting us, although also there for business meetings. He was driving along one of the state highways with my wife, and he saw one of these turtles strewn off to the side of the road, and he decided to pull over and pick it up. It seemed like a strange souvenir to keep from Seattle, but it was probably something like a novelty for him, having also lived his entire life in Utah and Colorado.

Well, awhile after this, my wife started keeping her eyes opened for turtles and reflectors that were detached from the road. Every once in awhile, she'll pull over and pick one up, or if it's convenient, just stop and tell me to open the door and lean out and pick on up that has been kicked out into the gutter. Other times, it's more of an activity for when we're stopped at a traffic light (there seems to be an abnormal number of turtles near intersections, corresponding to a large number of potentially detached ones). It seems like a worthy goal to just look around and collect a full set. Since we mostly drive on smaller roads, I'd say the ones we find the most are the yellow turtles. Next are white turtles, which we normally find just near intersections, but also on two-lane roads. More valuable still are the yellow and then the white reflectors. But only once in a blue moon can you find a blue reflector loose for the taking.

Now, to preface this, I want to make it clear that I wouldn't encourage anyone to try to loosen the reflectors, especially blue ones from the road. I just operate on the theory that if there's a reflector that's already broken off, it's unlikely that the city will reattach or otherwise reuse it (if you happen to know otherwise, though, do tell). The reason it's so hard to find a detached reflector should partly be obvious - it's mostly because there just aren't as many of them on the road. But there is a second force at work preventing you from finding loose blue reflectors, and that's the fact that they aren't always on the same part of the road. They all look out of place, so if you see one that seems like it's probably askew, more than likely it's actually still solidly attached (although it's worth noting if it's simply sitting at an irregular angle relative to the road).

Well, for some time now, I've thought about putting some of this strange new hobby in writing, but something happened this weekend which I suppose tipped the scales for me. On the way home from babysitting for a friend of my wife's, we were driving along a medium-sized road in Bellevue, and the road was uncommonly clear (particularly behind us). My wife slowed to a stop in the right line of the road, where there was a blue reflector just sitting in the gutter, and without being an impedance to traffic, we managed to pick it up and take it home with us. A true trophy!