To Infinity and Beyond!

For those of you who were particularly interested in my post entitled, My Run to the Sun, I have some exciting news! I have successfully completed the quest to locate all nine planets! In addition, I was even able to find Ceres, which is largest asteroid and the only dwarf planet in the inner Solar System.

The first stage of my mission was accomplished last weekend. While my roommates were still nestled all snug in their beds, I rose early Saturday morning to follow the illusive trail to Pluto. I decided that the best plan would be to work my way back to the last planet that we had discovered: Neptune. Sure enough, when I reached the model of Neptune, I found a small picture of a planet and a tiny arrow pointing back towards Kandern. Above the arrow was the word, “Planetweg.” I also noticed a short footnote at the bottom of the sign, “1400m zum Pluto.”

With these two bits of information to guide me, I turned back down the trail and started to head in the direction of downtown Kandern. It seemed strange to me at first  to be heading right into the city. After all, shouldn’t the planets be hidden in the woods and not in the middle of a city street? My fears soon faded when I noticed the start sign for another hiking trail. Since the Planetweg was obviously built as an attraction for hiking trails, I was convinced that this must be the way to find Pluto. Completely ignoring the previous information that Pluto was only 1400m from Neptune, I headed pell-mell up the mountain and into the new world of the red diamond hiking trails. (Most of the trails that I had been following before had been yellow diamond trails.)

You can probably guess that my hasty actions did not serve me well. I scoured those mountain trails for nearly an hour, completely determined that I would not give up until I had found the little planet. Finally, hot, tired, and a little grumpy, I decided it was time to head home. I would have to look again tomorrow. Besides, how was I to know if some crazed anti-Pluto activist hadn’t removed the planet years ago? Perhaps all my searching had been in vain…

Feeling much less enthusiastic than I did on the way there, I ran dejectedly down the main street and back towards our home at the top of the hill. Just as I was crossing by the bridge near Rachel and Amy’s house, I noticed a man reading a city map that was posted off to the side of the main street. Taking a closer look, I realized that right beside this map of the city was none other than the model of Pluto! It had been right there on the main street all along and I had just kept on running blindly past. You can probably imagine my elation when I realized that I would not have to return home without accomplishing my task. The littlest planet had been found and it was much closer to home than I had ever guessed it would be!

My planet quest was officially completed on Sunday. Before church, I spent my morning time with God by running from Pluto, to Neptune, to Uranus, to Saturn, to Jupiter, (to Ceres,) to Mars, to Earth, to Venus, to Mercury, to the Sun and back again all within 70 minutes. Talk about a great reminder of God’s amazing creation!

My favorite planet, Saturn!