Postcards from Real Life: Earth

Estimated reading time: 2 minutes

Exploring scale solar system walks is a groovy way to refresh our perspective our place in the stars. And explore places on Earth.

Our little blue marble is amazing. How life began and evolved here over billions of years is mind-blowing. And yet within that marvel, we’re microscopic in the big scheme of things—in our solar system alone much less considering the entire universe.

One of the ways I love seeing our place in space represented is through scaled solar system walks. If you’re not familiar, they’re walking tours you can take that have plaques or displays showing the planets, not only in a relational distance to one another but also in the planet sizes themselves.

They can be super-fancy and formal (usually sponsored by a museum or some such) or simple, homemade versions. They run the gamut. But by far my favorite I’ve ever explored is the one on the road to Great Basin National Park.

Someone tied various objects and hand-painted signs along a barbed wire fence on the road leading to the park. The planets were represented by things like basket and tennis balls, a bell, etc. You get the idea.

And if you were simply focused on getting to the park, you’d miss the whole thing. It didn’t have a fancy marker or display to tell you about it. It just seemed to be someone’s quirky little project. But you had to be paying attention to notice it.

The last time I visited years ago, many of the planets had gone missing. So unless someone has tended to it, there’s probably not much left. And that’s a shame. It was so very on-brand, oddball Nevada. And I loved it.

Anyway, I encourage you to seek out scaled solar systems walks where you live or in places you travel to. They’re a fun way to explore a town or city even if it’s your own. Much like geocaching, they take you places you might not go otherwise.

And they’re an important reminder of the dichotomy our “little” Earth represents in the universe—tiny in the big picture but unique and amazing in its own right.

Peace out!

Bluesky Art Show

This post is inspired by the Bluesky Art Show, a challenge to share artwork surrounding a weekly theme each Saturday.