God 10 Disney 1

(South Florida, 3/11-12/2010) After overdosing on Disney World we were blown away by the natural beauty of the Florida Everglades. I appreciate the vision and creative genius of Walt Disney and on one level, what he was able to imagine and accomplish in building a world from his imagination is remarkable. But if there is a competition for creative genius and accomplishing the bringing together of a vast array of complex and inter-dependent parts...God wins every time.
We knew next to nothing about the Everglades and most of it was wrong. It is not a swamp as we thought, rather it is a very large (8 miles wide at one point) freshwater river that effectively collects the runoff from huge Lake Okeechobee in Central Florida and funnels it to the Atlantic Ocean and Gulf of Mexico in the far south of Florida. An amazing interlinking system of grasses, mangrove and cypress trees, and slight elevation (a gradual drop of 14 feet in over 100 miles) the Everglades flows in a subtle but steady current. The grasses and trees act as a filter for all the water to make it incredibly pure. The estuary formed in the south where the salt and freshwater combine, is the breeding ground for over 80% of the salt and fresh water fish found in Florida, the Gulf of Mexico and Caribbean Sea. The whole eco-system is home to a vast array of birds and other animals (I was hoping to see a Florida Panther; Joy was not) as well as plants and trees. We saw a bird called an Anhinga swimming in the water to catch fish for dinner. Since they have no oils in the feathers like ducks and geese to repel water, when they come out of the water they fly to a nearby tree branch and spread their wings to air dry! And alligators are everywhere. After looking hard to see a gator in or near the canals we drove by getting to the park, in just an hour or two we saw more than 30 or 40. The Ranger's estimate there are 30,000 gators in the Park. The Everglades is also the only place in North America you can find the American Crocodile. The Croc likes brackish or salt water whereas the Gator likes freshwater. We took a boat ride into the Everglades back country and finally saw a Manatee in the river, an animal we had heard so much about.
Look at the pictures and decide for yourself. Who is the better creator: God or Disney?