Go confidently in the direction of your dreams. Live the life you have imagined.

Henry David Thoreau

Picking Citrus Near Lake Louisa

January 30-February 4, 2017                                                                      Most Recent Posts:
Monday-Saturday                                                        Red Tide, Yoder’s and More: Our Last Week at Oscar Scherer
Lake Louisa State Park                                                           2016 Year in Review: PART 2 – June to December
Clermont Florida

 

 

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From Oscar Scherer we moved to Lake Louisa where work continued on some of Winnona’s issues.  If you enjoy hiking or riding on horse trails and kayaking or fishing in the lakes here, it’s the place for you.  We use it as a spot to get work done, pick citrus and stage for Disney World.

This part of Florida is the lakes region and Lake Louisa has many of them.  The namesake lake is the largest and a popular day use area for boating and swimming. The campground loops are stretched between two smaller lakes, Dixie and Hammond.. 

Our site is located right next to the restroom which is very handy for one of the chores we do here, laundry.  The site is long and level and near the only trailhead in the campground.

 

 

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The campground and the trail nearest it have several orange and tangerine trees that are probably from a former orchard and have gone wild.  They were loaded with fruit and weren’t nearly as sour as the wild fruits we have found in other places.  I walked the trail every day and brought a few home each time..

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The trail from the campground goes along Dixie Lake on one side.

All the trails that I experienced here are wide enough to be a single lane road and clearly intended for horse traffic.  There are numbers along the trails so you can use the maps to find your way.  The number signs give the intention away.

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Both Dixie Lake, below, and the smaller Hammond Lake have short piers for people to fish from and every time I went out there were always people with their rods.  Both piers have a set of side steps going down into the water which I guess is the kayak launch though the steps look like things I’ve seen in springs for swimmers to use to enter the water but I don’t think you are allowed to swim in any of the lakes but Lake Louisa. I’ve never seen anyone in the water but then again it is February.

If it’s a kayak launch, I  find it much harder to launch from a dock or steps than directly from the shore.  I also never saw any waterfowl on either lake on all of my morning walks and I always went by both piers to check.

They are both lovely sites.

 

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I caught the tail end of the sunset from Hammond Lake one evening.

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We’ve been having trouble starting Winnona and sometimes have to use the booster. We’d taken the battery in and had it tested by two different places and it was fine. Finally David decided to test the starter so he took it out, took it in and that was it. New starter installed and we’re all set.  She purrs again with no hesitation.

 

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One day we drove lilterally almost next door to the Showcase of Citrus where you can buy already picked citrus or you can pick your own.  Love the cowgirl sitting under the sign.  She turned out to work in the store but she wasn’t the one who waited on David when he paid for our bag which we could fill as full as we could get it. 

On one of the beams above the store they had great signs.  I’d like to have this one.


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Out back was an eclectic grouping of kids toys, orange carts, a windmill, roaming chickens and cats.

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We got a cart and a picker and headed across the bridge to the trees.

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Across the bridge I was surprised to see what is billed as “world’s largest 4X4 trucks”.  They give tours of the property on these things.  So if you’ve ever wanted to ride on one of these monsters and do it safely I assume, here’s your chance.  Only $25 a person.  Count me out.

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The woman taking pictures here did go on a ride and we saw them go by, just the two of them and the driver in that huge truck.

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The rows were easy to walk up and down,  We had a map that told us which areas to pick in and what the fruit was.  Still it was difficult to determine just which rows were which type of oranges or tangerines.  We later learned on our way out that if we had gone straight ahead rather than crossing over the bridge at first, the rows on that end were labeled.

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The orange blossoms smell divine!

 

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The pickers at work.  Some of them are tall enough to reach the fruits.  Some are not.

 

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But we come away with a full bag of honey tangerines, honey bell and page oranges.  $18 a bag for your trouble.  It’s less if you don’t pick your own but there isn’t as great a variety for sale in their bins as there is in the field.

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Saturday morning we’re up and out for our 23 mile drive to Fort Wilderness in Disney World.
Let the party begin!

19 comments:

  1. Nothing, but nothing beats those tree ripened Florida oranges, although the free ones at Orange Grove RV Park in Bakersfield do come close. David would go nuts there...picking and eating oranges at will. I learned to love those Florida oranges when Bel and I would go get them near Ocala and Citrus. I hauled bags and bags of them back on the airplane! They were heavy!!

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  2. David amazes me with his strength and abilities. Changing a starter is a workout, even when it is easy to get to. Great Job.

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  3. Picking citrus would definitely be a new one to me. It's remarkable that those trees earlier in the post just keep growing fruit, long after a farm is gone.

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  4. I'm content to let someone else pick the fruit for me, and I sure can't complain about the varieties and prices of California grown. When I lived in Ohio the schools would make money taking orders for Florida and Texas fruit, and they were delicious as well.

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  5. Can't wait for the Mickey pictures :)

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  6. Love that you can pick fresh fruit in camp. I was able to buy fresh grapefruit along the road near Mesa. So you must be like me in that we are Always right. Right? I'll pass on the monster truck too. My goodness, is it already time to return to Disney. Yippee!

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  7. Isn't there a lake mini haha there? I know a lady from face book who owns a bully and she lives on that lake always posting photos, looks like a neat place

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  8. I bet there was a very strong smell of testosterone around those giant 4X4's! ;c)

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  9. I would love to do that! The oranges in Florida is one thing I really missed especially the freshly squeezed juices.

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  10. One of the things I enjoy about staying at Lazydays here in Tucson is the fruit trees. There is a tree at each site...pink grapefruit, orange, and lemon trees. I have made two half gallons of orange juice so far. I have grapefruit to squeeze but I need another container. I'll squeeze lemons, also, and freeze the juice in ice cube trays for future use. Glad you got to pick your own fruit. We discovered that the picker pole slides apart near the top and make the arm twice as long! Try it next time:)

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  11. Safe travels to Disney...oh to pick fresh vine ripe fruit I bet they are really good. Look forward to hear of your adventures in Disney.
    freedom2roll.blogspot.com

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  12. Yay! Hats off to David for finding and fixing the problem with Winnona. That Citrus Park sure does look inviting; the monster trucks, not so much. We have a few rogue orange trees around us here at the campground and they are surprising sweet. Be safe and have a great time at the happiest place on earth!

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  13. Nice place for a stop over and well done for figuring out the starter issue. Picking fresh fruit sounds so appealing! Yay Disney!!

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  14. Thanks for sharing the trail views since I never made it out there, but was happy to get at least one lingering problem resolved from Winnona's list. Picking citrus was also a treat for me.

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  15. It always feels so good to diagnose and fix an issue with the motorhome - lucky David is so handy!! Beautiful shot of the lake, those stairs are "interesting". I'm not as industrious as Pam, but we're enjoying having fresh citrus here at the park as well. Would love fresh honey tangerines!! Love the darling profile pic - those are two happy faces :-)))))

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  16. It's so much more fun to pick your own fruit than to buy it already picked! We do that every chance we get—citrus in Arizona or Florida, cherries in Washington state. The orange blossoms smell divine, too. Wish we had some of that good Florida citrus right now. We're having to buy it at the coop in Ashland. No fruit on any trees around here right now.

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  17. We've been buying lots of fresh citrus, but hadn't found anywhere that we could pick our own yet. That looked like fun!!

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  18. Fresh oranges!!!! Yum! I've become addicted to fresh orange juice and now the stuff you buy in the bottles and cartons is not appealing. Looks like a fun day!

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  19. We have been to that SP several times, it does make a nice stop before or after Disney:)

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