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Can you appreciate the beauty in a place – any place, no matter where you are? Really? What about in a… refinery? That’s right; a grungy, smelly, fully operational refinery.

As an engineer, I’ve had the opportunity to travel quite a bit (check my About page for a brief listing of the places I’ve been privileged to experience). What’s more, I’ve also been involved in quite the variety of different facilities; everything from refineries and power plants to semiconductor factories or automobile manufacturing complexes and more.

It’s really been great, especially the part of not staying in the same place all the time. I don’t know about you, but for me, working in different industries has really made life much more interesting. I guess I’ve always been something of a rolling stone, you know?

Having started my career in the Gulf Coast area of the U.S. (Houston, Texas is where I grew up and I am currently based), also means having spent my fair share of time in refineries; not just locally, but around the U.S. and one in Venezuela. But by far the most exotic place I’ve been was… (and can I get a flourish here?) Aruba!

(OK, quick lesson. In order to say it right, you have to pronounce it “Ah-ROO-bah” and sortof swing your hips a bit when you say it. Go ahead, try it – you’ll feel the difference. Oh, and Terry, as the designated SOBCon dancer, make sure to post a video for the rest of us.)

Yep, that’s right – I spent over a year in Aruba, working on the, well, let’s see who owns it this week – ah yes! the Valero Aruba Refinery. (That’s a publicity photo of the place at the top there. Nice place, this place, eh?)

OK, I’ll admit, living in the Caribbean is probably a large percentage of the population’s dream location. I mean, if ya gotta work somewhere, it might as well be some place that’s, well, absolutely gorgeous, right? I hear ya, my friends, I hear ya. It truly is a nice place to be. (And believe me, I’ve been to some really, really dumpy places over the years!)

But still… it’s a refinery, which is normally not known as one of the nicest places on earth, you know? After all, that’s why they located it in San Nicholas, on the opposite end of the island from all the tourist hotels and really nice beaches (Click for full size; that big red circle, bottom right).

One evening though, I was sitting at Coco Beach (our local burger joint), which is located on Rogers Beach (the actual name of the beach) just east of the refinery, when I started noticing the play of light and clouds as the sun began to set. Since I carried my camera with me at all times (hey – it’s Aruba, for crying out loud!), I started shooting pictures, and here are my two favorites.

(Click for full size) I gotta say, I found this shot absolutely beautiful! The amazing colors of the sunset, mixed with the lights of the refinery just made it a wonderful scene. Rogers Beach is in the foreground, and I’m sitting on the Coco Beach restaurant’s deck. It’s a fantastic place to spend a few hours after work!

(Click for full size) Ah, but long after the sun had set, I took one more, just for the heck of it. Wow! This shot was taken about 25 minutes after the previous one. Quite beautiful, but in a completely different way.

See? Definitive proof that you can find something beautiful to appreciate literally anywhere, if you just know where to look for it. Just remember: sometimes it may take a while to show up. Keep looking.

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