Lake Louisa State Park

We stayed at Lake Louisa State Park in Oct. of 2008. It was our first camping trip with our pop up camper. We live 10 minutes from this park and are familiar with it so it was the perfect place to try out our new camper. We stayed at site #30 next to one of the fishing docks with a good view of one of the lakes. This site did offer good sunsets but if you like privacy, you may not like this site since the walkway to the dock was right next it. The campground is nestled between two small pristine lakes, Dixie and Hammond. Both lakes have fishing docks and you can launch a canoe or john boat. No gasoline motors are allowed in these lakes. You can also access Lake Louisa from the park. It is a large lake and is part of a chain of lakes in Clermont. This site offers a swimming beach and picnic areas at this lake. This park also has many hiking and horse trails. We have hiked many of them. Some are in the forest and hammock, some are in the scrub and some are in the open. Our favorite trail runs along Big Creek a creek which runs out of the Green Swamp and into Lake Louisa. We enjoyed fishing, hiking and just relaxing by the campfire. This is a new campground and everything is top notch. There are 3 main loops, very nice bathrooms and washer dryers. There is not much shade however but this will increase as the trees planted by the park begin to grow.
We would recommend this park in the fall and winter months, epically if you like to fish. Some of the biggest speckled perch we have ever caught were out of Lake Dixie off the dock. Alligators can also be seen on these lakes, but don't feed or harrass them. Otters can also be spotted and well as eagles.
The Happy Camper

Squiddo Lens: Crazy about Florida

Who knew, what's a Squiddo? A month ago we had never heard of it. Squiddo is another site where you can create a web site for free. They call it a lens. It is so easy and fun to create a lens on Squiddo. We decided to create a site that has a broader content base. It includes camping but also boating, beaches, hiking, and exploring Florida in many different ways. We may even touch on antiquing. Who knows, check it out, its lots of fun.
The Happy Camper

Grilled Pork Kabobs

Another Easy Recipe
I know, I know, another pork one. But this recipe could also be used for chicken or shrimp.
Ingredients:
1 clove garlic or 1 tsp garlic powder
2 tbsp soy sauce
4 tsp olive oil: olive is best but regular vegetable is ok
2 tsp lemon juice
pepper to taste
cherry tomatoes
pineapple chunks
2 to 4 boneless chops or white meat of choice

Combine all ingredients and left over pineapple juice and marinate in zip lock bag for one hour. Make into kabobs and grill approx. 10-20 minutes, depending on the fire and portions, and voe la, that's it!
And as always if you are camping and don't have all these ingredients, improvise. A little vinegar could substitute for lemon. Any tasty veggies will do. Have fun and be creative.
The Happy Camper

Camper Awnings

This may seem like something we should know but if it had not been for a fellow campers misfortune, we may not have thought about it. We typically camp in the fall to spring months and had not encountered any large amounts of rain. However, our friends did and during the night water ponded on their awning until it collapsed. Lesson learned always make one end a little lower to allow water to run off. On a trip to Sebastian Inlet it rained quite a lot and this saved our awning. Also if you have time and a storm is approaching, it's a good idea to take down the awning. Several campers lost their awnings in one of the storms.

Keep it simple

Always take tin foil camping. It has so many uses. Of course you can cook in it, then wrap up the leftovers. No messy plastic bags to fool with, then re-heat in the foil.
Use it to cover a dirty grill or better yet, ball it up and scrape heated grill grate to clean. We forgot our grill brush once and the foil worked great.
Even been camping and it would not stop raining long enough to keep a fire going or cook? Use foil to "tent" the fire. Use sticks or a campfire tripod for support. Just leave a small opening for a vent and your fire will stay lit in the rain.
Use it to cover a pot if you don't have lid.
I am sure there are many others, just take some along and see.