I thought I was pretty cool, scoring seat 10A on the 757 to San Francisco. It’s a great seat because there is no 9A so there’s pretty extensive legroom but also full recline and real window. I’m all about the Seatguru thing. I figured I would stretch my legs out and get some sleep. The infants and toddlers in row 11 had other plans.

Anyway, after the plane passed over Yosemite and started the approach, I chanced to look out the window somewhere around San Jose and saw the strangest thing. I wasn’t able to take a picture but here’s Google maps’ view of the area.  If anything, the colors I saw were even brighter.

What gives?  Designer algae ponds?  Map of Canada?  Colored sand farms?  Well, my crack(ed) research team has discovered that these are just humble salt flats, evaporating away so our margarita glasses won’t be naked.

Here’s a nice shot from flickr of the same or a similar nearby area, and some notes on the whole business from the rocket scientists at NASA.

Safely settled in to San Francisco, I’m off to check out a new place called, oddly enough, the Salt House.