A Baltimore Oriole appeared to almost peek into my window as I settled in for the flight from DIA to San Francisco. The bird was just a photo on the winglet of our Frontier Airbus 320. However, it would be the most remarkable bird I would find on the brief trip. Nearly 10 years since my last visit, time and distance shifted perspective though the airline’s computer still secured the prime seat – window, behind the wing.
Smaller prop commercial planes are the most fun to fly. These craft typically cruise lower and slower than even similar-sized jets. Houses and fields can be discerned easily, except, perhaps when flying near their operational ceiling. A two-engine Boeing or Airbus leaves this view behind within about 20 minutes of takeoff. So, rising above the Denver metro area, my favorite challenge is to see how close that day’s flight path is to the familiar peaks in the Rocky Mountain National Park area.
I am always struck with how the environment takes on a broad-brush treatment from 30,000 feet up. Trash strewn along a busy rural highway disappears as the route itself devolves into a faint black line. Overflowing landfills become unremarkable mounds. Has this section of the Rocky Mountains burned recently? Hard to tell beneath mounting autumn snow. Global warming? Not much evidence as everything without flakes seems brown and cold. A more discerning eye, of course, could easily point out differences on the route – especially since I last looked in the winter of 2013.
A couple things that registered: evidence of renewable energy and drought. Large windfarms have cropped up between central Colorado and the Bay Area for years. There sure seemed to be more of the lazily spinning blades than before. The coolest addition was a vast circle of solar panels surrounding a lit tower – a solar thermal power project. It could have been the 110 megawatt Crescent Dunes project located about 190 miles northwest of Las Vegas, judging by the desert surroundings. California hosts four operational plants of the same type of comparable or larger capacity. Unlike the array at Hemingford, which transforms sunlight directly into electricity, these locations operate as solar furnaces to focus sunlight on a collector tower. As “Cookie” the Oriole flew by, the light from the tower wavered in intensity like an Independence Day sparkler. Hydroelectric power is another renewable source of electricity. All the reservoirs I saw showed much more shore than normal as the West yearns for moisture.
At last we cleared the Sierra Nevada range and flew over the bay to land at SFO, newly renovated a year before. I was able to reunite with my mom and stepdad after being split up on the flight. The airport is actually in the suburb of South San Francisco (South City), which was our destination anyway. We would depart the following night after a celebration of life for my great aunt.
Despite a short stay, there was time to reconnect and remember. It was great to spend time with my mom’s best friend and talk to cousins, yet South City had lost much of the luster it had the last time my family had traveled there – when we stayed with my grandma. Litter stood out more as I walked down the main street. Favorite places just looked a little older.In contrast to an emphasis on recycling and the environment in California, the familiar streets seemed tired to my eyes. I had lost that sense of connection that wants to see the best in a community and work to “keep it beautiful.”
Travel beyond our range brings the environment into sharper focus. Do we share similar problems, successes? Enjoy the window seat, upon landing we all need to do our best on the ground.