Into The Water      07/16/22

Kiptopeke State Park, Cape Charles, Virginia

When Israel (Jacob) saw the sons of Joseph, he asked, “Who are these?”  “They are the sons God has given me here,”….”Bring them to me so I may bless them.”  Now Israel’s eyes were failing because of old age, and he could hardly see.  So Joseph brought his sons close to him, and his father kissed them and embraced them. ~ Genesis 48:8-10      Do you suppose Israel was remembering how he tricked his own ‘blind’ father, Isaac, by pretending to be his brother, Esau, when he asked who Joseph’s sons were? (See Genesis 27)  When we are liars and deceivers, we tend to see others that way too.  This is one of the reasons truthfulness is so important to God.  But the most important reason is because Truth is part of God’s Character.  It’s Who He is.  Jesus says, “I am the Way, the Truth and the Life.  No one comes to the Father except by Me.” (John 14:6)

Today we were excited to put in at the marsh area and kayak around for a few hours.  Unfortunately, it wasn’t quite as exciting as we were expecting.  Oh, don’t get me wrong, we still had a marvelous and sweltering time (gets out all those impurities in our system, ya know?), but there wasn’t much to look at because there seemed to be no birds.  Maybe it was the height of the tide?

We did however, see a bald eagle and its gigantic nest!  So glad we had our scope with us!  It was really far away, but still . . . we saw it!

Of course, we saw thousands of fiddler crabs, and a flock of soaring birds that we couldn’t identify.  Neither could the people working in the Visitor Center.  However, a day or two from now, Blaine will come home with the answer – they were Great Black-backed Gulls.  The largest gull in the world, they are a bit smaller than a brown pelican.  They like fresh water and soar in groups. Here’s a picture, but it’s hard to tell how large they are. 

We believe we actually saw one yesterday evening sitting on a group of pylons in the water.  We couldn’t figure out what it was.  It was ‘fatter’ than a heron and didn’t have their long neck or beak.  The way it was sitting, we couldn’t really see its head.  Now we know!

But I digress . . .

We paddled around and even ventured across the canal, to see what was on the other side, just like the chicken!  Nothing there.  Still, it was still fun to be out on the water and in the fresh air and sunshine!

By the way – – the blown-up kayak fits really well in the Jeep truck bed! Easier than it did in our Wrangler.

We stopped by the Visitor Center because Blaine thought the Ranger the other day said they’d be open at 10am today, and it was 10.  I remembered the sign on the door saying 12-4.  We were both right.  😊  It was open and the sign did say noon.

We walked around glancing at their displays, much of which we’ve seen similar information before.

Home for lunch, then Blaine decided he needed more exercise, so he took off in pursuit of a good sweat session as he rode his bike all around the Park.  He took a few pictures too!

Tomorrow we get to worship in a church building!