Florida Day 8: Orange Orchard

Our last day in Florida was just a half day because we were flying home that afternoon/evening.  So we got up and packed all our luggage and then drove to a You-Pick Orange Orchard.  Brad really likes aquariums, and nature, so he likes things like orchards and botanical gardens.  Brad and Kjirstin found an orange orchard we could visit and a Groupon for a monster truck ride through a swamp.

As we were driving to the orchard we passed a whole street or really weird shops.  There was one with a giant wizard on the roof.  I really wished we would have had time to stop and see if we could find some little souvenirs the kids could give their friends.  But we were really strapped for time, so we'll have to save that for another trip.

We got to the orchard and went on our monster truck ride.  This orchard was really weird.  They converted a bus into a big monster truck.  The orchard was something like 2000 acres owned by some old, reclusive doctor.  We went through a swamp and saw a few wild alligators.  Then we stopped a few times to see other random wildlife.  

 

(Luke's smile looks like he's going to eat you.)

Once we stopped and the driver gave all the kids an orange to throw to a bunch of cows.  The cows came right by the truck and ate the oranges.  I never knew that cows liked oranges.  Weird.

Then we stopped and saw some goats, and zebras.  I have no idea why there were zebras there...

There were also other random things all over, like a gigantic hanging shark...

 

After the monster truck ride we had a picnic lunch by a lake.  There was an alligator at the edge of the water.  It was kind of small, maybe 4-5 feet long, but not very thick.  So I went and poked it with a stick.  That thing snapped really fast and strong.  It made me super scared about having Luke or Hazel anywhere near the water.  I asked Gary and Sarah how many of the millions of lakes in Florida probably have wild alligators in them and they said that most of them probably did (small ones).

  

 The orange orchard had a least 3 little lakes around it and we saw little alligators in all of them.  I wondered if only 1 alligator lived in each lake, but in the biggest lake we saw multiple.  One of them was really big.  Yikes.

Anyway, after lunch we went to a petting zoo where the kids could feed other animals like an ostrich, goats, donkeys, and turkeys.  Shockingly, Hazel was super good at feeding the animals.  She seems to have a very unnatural lack of fear of animals.  She would just take her carrot and shove it straight into the animal's mouth.  Isaac and I were worried she was going to get bitten because she had no fear.

 

 

Then we went to the orchard to pick our own oranges.  We learned that natural oranges don't ripen to a rich orange color like we see at the grocery store.  In order to get that orange they have to exposed them to some type of gas,  or let them reach a certain cold temperature (I forgot the specifics).  But we picked a few oranges and tried them.  They really weren't very good.

 

It was super HOT while we were picking oranges, so we got some orange slushy/ice-cream mixtures.  It was a bit sour for my taste, but Isaac really like it.  And then it was time to go home, so we said our goodbyes to the Roberts and drove to the airport.

The orange orchard wasn't my favorite, but it had fun moments.  I think Brad said it was his favorite part of the trip though.  Afterward I added up all our expenses and our days at the beach and orchard were almost as expensive as the other days (largely due to getting such a good deal on our Discovery Cove package).

I just had a really good time on this trip.  I thought we had a good balance of activities.  We were super busy most of the time, so we could have re-arranged the schedule a little to balance things out a little.  But I like to go, go, go on vacations so I feel like I'm making the most of my time.  I thought our kids got along incredibly well with the Roberts' kids.  They have been asking when we can see them again ever since.  And I have come to really like Florida because I feel like there is a lot to do there.  Every time we go I find other things we should look into for the next time, and there are enjoyable things I wouldn't mind doing again.  So until next time...