Last Sunday I was driving from my home in Seminole county to Lady Lake, a few mile past the Mt. Dora exit on 441 I was hit with a smell that took me back 40 - 50 years in time. 

All of a sudden my senses were flooded with the pungent smell of  orange blossoms. It made me realize that I was on the "Orange Blossom Trail" - but I don't think many people today really know why highway 441 bears that name. The air was so thick with the smell that it painted the picture in my mind of what it was like long ago on that highway when the blossoms from the orange groves blanketed the area for miles and miles with that unique sweet smell of orange blossoms. 

"The Trail" long ago lost the acres and acres of orange grove that used to dominate the area to development.

 The Orange Blossom is our state flower, but it is a becoming a rarity to experience the power of an orange grove in full bloom.

The flashback for me was not a Florida experience. I grew up in Orange county, California. The O.C. at one time just like central Florida had more orange trees than it did residents. 

It was just one of the little moments in your day when everything else dissolves away for a few minutes and you have a big smile on your face.