Resonance

There are times when I regret not having traveled more, and then there are days when I feel North America in my bones, that bone-chill that falls brings to the Bay Area in 35 mile per hour winds. I heard the trees around my windows wailing all night.

After seeing several lost faces on Friday, Saturday brought the discovery of a new territory: The Salt Flats.


Armed with plastic cameras we trudged down these narrow man-made levees. These little levees create ponds to harvest salt. Salt to be used in chlorine bleach and plastics manufacture. Here the breeding brine shrimp which support feeding areas for waterfowl, and little white cranes and the largest seagulls you will see live there. As you stand and face the ocean you see a superstructure freeways emerge from the sea (to your left) and an endless flatland with reflective salty gems sending out harsh sulfur smells into the atmosphere (to your right). Brillant white foam lines their shores collecting the fall sunlight.

Go further and you will find a railroad with ancient rusting rail-ties that have spewed from her tracks. Large power lines canopy overhead sending out a uniform buzz a kind of white noise that like the smell, swiftly evaporates from your consciousness.

Yes, North America, your greatest gifts always lie hidden between a walled suburban community and an industrial wasteland.