Markham County Park, Sunrise, Florida
Where is your wife, Sarah?” they asked him. “There in the tent,” he said. Then the LORD said, “I will surely return to you about this time next year, and Sarah your wife will have a son.” Now Sarah was listening at the entrance to the tent, which was behind him. Abraham and Sarah were already old and well advanced in years, and Sarah was past the age of childbearing. So Sarah laughed to herself as she thought, “After I am worn out and my master is old, will I now have this pleasure?” Then the LORD said to Abraham, “Why did Sarah laugh and say, ‘Will I really have a child, now that I am old?’ Is anything too hard for the LORD? I will return to you at the appointed time next year and Sarah will have a son.” Sarah was afraid, so she lied and said, “I did not laugh.” But He said, “Yes, you did laugh.” ~ Genesis 18:9-15 Here, we learn that it IS the Lord Himself visiting Abraham and Sarah. Back in the day, I was always confused at how these Old Testament people could visit/talk with God, because we also know that no one can see God and live. So how could this be? And then one day, I learned that the ‘angel of the LORD’ or ‘the LORD’ was a form Jesus who came – sometimes in some type of bodily form, sometimes an audible voice, or even a pillar of cloud or a burning bush. This was part of His role before He was born of Mary and lived as a man. Incarnate literally means ‘in flesh’. It’s a theological term used to describe God taking on human flesh and living as a person on earth. Preincarnate means before He did that. Further evidence in this passage comes from His ability to know what Sarah did and thought in secret. I can understand Sarah, can’t you? I’m also not sure I’d consider it a blessing to have a child at 90. And by the way, she lived to 127. It’s really hard to believe in the impossible, but God demonstrates He’s capable of the impossible all the time. Both then, and now.
It was a good day in Big Cypress National Preserve today. Big Cypress is very close to Everglades National Park. Some of you may remember that we were in Everglades two years ago. Back then, this is one of the things I had to say about one of our days:
Remember the other day when I told you his lips were sunburned and blistered a bit? Well, it got worse. Much worse. It was either stay inside the coach for the remainder of our time here, or find a way to protect them. He took a trip to the local pharmacy and bought a box of surgical masks. He’d look a bit silly, but he’d be safe.
so he had to resort to a shirt tied around his face. (repeat of post from 2019)
Who knew that this would become the norm??? Now, we look silly and unsafe (or even downright dangerous) if we don’t wear a mask! But thankfully, the time is drawing near to where we can return to normal! We’re soooo ready to get rid of the masks! Handwashing and sanitizing will most likely continue, but even a year later, we still sometimes forget to grab masks when we’re going indoors, and have to return to the Jeep to get them!
So here we are, two years later, next door to Everglades, in a place we’ve not visited before. This is what Big Cypress National Preserve has to say about themselves:
Fresh water is vital to you and to much of the life on Earth. In South Florida it is essential for the livelihood of residents and for the health of our environment. To disrupt the water’s national flow here can have harmful consequences for nature and the region’s economy.
In 1974, Congress created Big Cypress National Preserve to protect the fresh water’s natural flow from the Big Cypress Swamp into the Everglades and Ten Thousand Islands. In the Preserve, fresh water feeds a mosaic of fie distinct habitats in its 729,000 acres and is vital to the health of southwest Florida’s estuaries and the Gulf of Mexico.
After the Tamiami Trail was finished in 1928, South Florida saw its first real estate boom. Between the creation of Everglades National Park in 1947 and the late 1960s, the Big Cypress Swamp faced many threats. In 1968, construction of a massive jetport was begun; the ultimate plan was to create the world’s largest jetport with the world’s largest runway. The project, and the development to follow, would have devastated the natural flow of fresh water through the Big Cypress Swamp.
Ultimately, a diverse coalition including conservationists, hunters, private land owners, and Seminole and Miccosukee peoples managed to stop the jetport development and to secure permanent protection for this unique landscape.
To protect the swamp and freshwater flow, and to honor customary uses of those who worked together to protect the area, Congress created a new type of parkland, a national preserve. Today activities like oil and gas exploration and extraction, hunting, off-road vehicle use, private land ownership, as well as customary and traditional uses y the Seminole and Miccosukee peoples continue in the Preserve.
It ended up being mostly driving today – 205 miles total! Nearly an hour to get there, and then many more miles inside the Park. It’s a big place! We did a few short trails, but got turned around by standing water. But as you read, fresh water’s good for the Park. 😊
Two in the water 
Too bad about the reflection. Our eyes could see him perfectly as he swam safely below us.
They really should put up “road hazard” signs along this road. : ) 
We’ll go as far as we can, until we can’t, or we decide to turn around.
because it was fraught with roots.
We could see that the trail was just getting wetter and wetter.
There’s a short boardwalk loop trail here.
Imagine what life was like for these, and countless other men (and women) in the 1920s and 30s!
Not because of what they were doing, but because of what they weren’t doing.
They weren’t swimming at all! Just frozen in place! We’ve never seen fish not swimming before!
Lunch today took place under the watchful eyes of two ravens. They were very patient, sitting there in the tree, waiting for us to feed them. We did not. I don’t think we even left them any crumbs.
Our two very quiet and still lunch companions. 
It was time to take on the 9.93-mile (one way) Turner River Canoe Trail. Well, three or so miles (one way) of it anyway. Before it got so overgrown with mangroves that we turned around. Plus, it was headed for the Atlantic Ocean, and Blaine had looked it up and discovered that going any closer would run the risk of us getting into a strong current we couldn’t paddle ourselves out of.
As it was, during the last section we used, we ended up using natural navigational tools rather than paddling. It was so narrow around us, we just grabbed branches to pull us along and steer. It’s fun to use a different muscle group! 😊 Thankfully, it’s well-used enough that there were no spiders or webs hanging about. Whew!!
Wonder what the paddle will be like?
This one wasn’t nearly as close as it looks. : )
Wonder how bad the Park’ll let ’em get before they either close the water trail, or trim the branches?
There were actually three juveniles here and they weren’t happy with us at all.
They’d take off and circle the pond a couple of times, before landing in the mangroves again.
We sat and watched them for a few minutes before heading back.
We encountered several other like-minded paddlers on our way back (most of which seemed to be on a paid tour). So what do you do when you’re on a one-lane road, and someone comes the other direction? Somebody has to pull over and get out of the way. Most of the time, that was us. One time, we had to wait for about ten people to go by, and they were kinda spread out, so I’ll bet we waited 5-10 minutes. At least, it seemed that long, as I grasped a stick underwater to keep us in place, and Blaine had a hand on an above-water branch. Hmm . . . didn’t give a thought to the gators we’d seen . . . Don’t worry. It was really shallow, and full of tourist boats. No alligator would swim here. They were all in the deep water pools we passed.
Once we returned and packed up, we drove back to make a pit stop at one of the Visitor Centers and checked out the bathrooms and the history of the swamp buggy.
The glare on the windows was so bad, all we could do was press our phone
against the glass and take a picture of whatever it picked up.
There was another dirt road we wanted to drive (gotta run the Jeep through its paces every once in a while) that was connected to Big Cypress, but was actually part of Fakahatchee State Park, but it was so monotonous and uninteresting, we didn’t even take any pictures, and turned around after only going about half way. Certainly not a Jeep road. ☹
We were still interested in getting additional steps in, and running right through Big Cypress is the Florida National Scenic Trail, which runs the length of Florida, like the Buckeye Trail in Ohio. Of course, we just wanted to stretch our legs a bit, not do the entire thing. We didn’t even take water or snacks with us. 😊
Locating the trail proved to be a bit of a challenge, though.
Our Park Service map told us that the trail was at mile marker 63 off Route 75 – an east/west expressway we were using to get back home. And sure enough, right there at mile 63, was an exit to a rest area and a hiking sign. So we parked in the parking lot, where there was another hiking sign with an arrow, and looked all around while trying to avoid the vultures lingering about. (What are they hoping for? Someone to drop dead in the parking lot?)
There was no trail here. We went back, looked at the sign and the direction the arrow was pointing, and walked that way – – right out of the parking lot, and alongside the entrance ramp, and through the property of a Broward County fire station, and another large parking lot, and just when we came to a dead end, there was a chain-link fence with a sign and a gate. We made it! Soooo crazy! We could’ve parked here too. But that’s okay, we got in extra steps that way.
As it turned out, they were necessary, because this trail was also covered in water that we couldn’t get around.
There were some pretty flowers along the way! 
These are a type of orchid. Smelled sweet! 
There are no motors allowed, plus that part of the gate was padlocked.
Stunning to see above your head! It’s a Swallow-tailed Kite.
Time to head home.
Dinner was waiting for us at Lucille’s. We ate here two years ago, loved the ‘comfort food’ they sell here and scarfed some down today. Technically, I was unable to scarf because my chicken pot pie was so hot, I couldn’t eat it! And it stayed hot the entire time we were at the table! There are few places you’re served food that hot. My Auntie would’ve loved it. 😊
I was a little hesitant to order it, because previous experience has taught me that most pot pies are liberal on the sauce, and scant on the meat and veggies, but not here! It was delicious!
Blaine ordered their turkey dinner, which was also served hot, and with homemade stuffing, gravy and cranberry sauce! Wonderful!
And our server made today’s dessert special sound so inviting, we ordered one to share – Neapolitan ice cream pie, with a blanket of ganache over it. So good! And remember, there’s always room for ice cream!
We got so caught up in the delicious ecstasy, we neglected to take a picture until it was almost gone. 😊
Tomorrow promises to be another long day, but a short post.
I’ll let you ponder that for a bit. . . .