Final Approach

The summer is over!  Back to work today and off to San Francisco!  

San Francisco is always our most senior trip, but it was 'extra senior' today as we get extra pay - Holiday Pay - because of the Bank Holiday tomorrow.  So it was a worthwhile trip to come back to work, though with 30 years myself, I am not used to being that far down the 'totem pole'!   I was delighted to work with 4 lovely ladies who will be retiring in November and it may well be the last time I get to work with them.  All 4 of them originally worked for Pan Am before my airline took over their London operation and I have been privileged to work with them many times over the last 23 years since I have been based in London.  They will be sorely missed and so the trip was very bitter-sweet.   I am more than a tad envious of them being able to leave!  

The view from my 'Office Window' is from the last part of our flight.  I missed the Golden Gate bridge and the city today as we were busy getting everything closed up and the passengers ready for landing.  We fly south past the city and then do a big U-turn and head back to the airport, landing from the south.  

This view is of the San Francisco Bay with Foster City, Belmont and San Carlos and Redwood City in the foreground.  You can also see Bair Island Ecological Reserve, part of the San Francisco Bay National Wildlife Refuge.  This is an area of 3000 acres of restored and conserved marshland.  A residential development had been proposed but was narrowly defeated by a citizens referendum in the early 1980s, paving the way for the Ecological Reserve that it is today.  

The white area beyond that, at the top right of the picture, are the Salt ponds (see previous blip from 25 Oct 2014), also within the refuge but managed by Cargill Salt which has perpetual salt-making rights.  Although white in this picture, the salt ponds often display a variety of deep colours caused by micro-organisms in the water.  Now part of the tidal restoration project, bay water is slowly being reintroduced to the ponds, so this colourful display will not be visible forever.  To see a better example of these bright colours, check out these two links…

http://www.atlasobscura.com/places/salt-ponds-san-francisco

http://www.amusingplanet.com/2012/06/multicolored-salt-ponds-at-san.html