No More "what's your sign" It's "What's Your Plate?"

Growing up in Colorado, we had one license plate. Green mountains with white background...

 {source}

Sure, you could customize it with some quippy letters and numbers to actually "mean" something but a solitary image ruled the roads. Recently, the state inverted the design. There are lots of varieties of this plate which tout your university, colonial status or others but the central design of white mountains with a colored background is the way it is.

 {source}

When I arrived in Florida, I saw dozens and dozens of plate designs, beginning with the most common:

{source}

Then the list explodes with Universities, Armed Forces and causes. Last month I kept a list of all the different license plates I saw. I think you'll be astounded at the giant diversity and each is designed completely differently. Here goes:

1. Agriculture
2. Air Forces
3. Aquatics
4. Challenger Columbia
5. Choose Life
6. Disabled Veteran
7. Discover Florida's Oceans
8. End Breast Cancer
9. Endless Summer
10. Family First
11. Family Values
12. Fish Florida
13. Florida A&M University
14. Florida Panthers
15. Florida State University
16. Florida Whales
17. The Gator Nation
18. Go Fishing
19. Golf Capital of the World
20. Helping Sea Turtles Survive 
21. Florida Panthers
22. Miami Heat
23. Hospice: Each Day is a Gift
24. Imagine
25. Indian River Lagoon
26. Miami Dolphins 
27. Play Tennis
28. Police Athletic League
29. Protect Children
30. Protect our Reefs
31. Protect the Panther
32. Protect Wild Dolphins
33. Salute Firefighters
34. Salute Veterans
35. Save our Seas
36. Save the Manatees 
37. Share the Road
38. Sportsman’s Natural Land Trust
39. State of the Arts
40. State Wildflower
41. Stetson University
42. Stop Heart Disease 
43. Support Education
44. Support Families
45. Support Law Enforcement
46. Support Soccer
47. Tampa Bay Buccaneers
48. United we Stand
49. University of Central Florida
50. US Army
51. US Navy
52. US Paratroopers

I found this fab link to a gallery on the Orlando Sentinel website. It has images of 114 specialty plates. Cool! They also have a link that includes news on license plates.

On a final note, if you are curious about vintage plates, like I am, check out this site: PlateShack.

While you are out on the road, check out the over 100 funky images on the license plates in Florida...

Until next time, Eli