Send us your Florida questions!

Flying into Key West is super-convenient, but people who fly into Key West miss one of the best parts of the Florida Keys: The Overseas Highway, which connects mainland Florida with the Florida Keys. The road didn't always look the way it does today, however. Brad and Cathy explain it all. 

Florida Keys Extras

No Name Pub on No Name Key used to be a brothel

The Pineapple Express? Yup, pineapples in the Florida Keys!

The Seven-Mile Bridge in True Lies

A pictorial trip across the Overseas Highway

Last Train to Paradise

Hurricane of 1935

Have you met Fred?

Support the show

Question or comment? Email us at [email protected].

Subscribe to The Florida Spectacular newsletter, and keep up with Cathy's travels at greatfloridaroadtrip.com. Keep up with Rick at studiohourglass.blogspot.com and get his books at rickkilby.com.

Find Cathy on social media: Facebook.com/SalustriCathy and everywhere else as @CathySalustri; connect with Rick Facebook.com/floridasfountainofyouth, Bluesky (@oldfla.bsky.social), and IG (@ricklebee).

NEW: Florida landscape questions — Send us your Florida plant questions and we'll have an expert answer them on the show! Use this link!

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It's January! It's cold! It's the best time to see manatee! Where can you see them? 

Rick and Cathy name their favorite spots (see the links) and talk about whether manatee resemble sea potatoes or zaftig mermaids, manatee flatulence, and manatee nipples (when an animal has armpit nipples, you have to mention it.)

Links We Mentioned

Is it a manatee or a mermaid? 

How smart are manatee?

The year almost 800 manatee died

Panther attacks?

Where to See Manatee

Crystal River

Blue Spring State Park

Haulover Canal

TECO Viewing Center

Support the show

Question or comment? Email us at [email protected].

Subscribe to The Florida Spectacular newsletter, and keep up with Cathy's travels at greatfloridaroadtrip.com. Keep up with Rick at studiohourglass.blogspot.com and get his books at rickkilby.com.

Find Cathy on social media: Facebook.com/SalustriCathy and everywhere else as @CathySalustri; connect with Rick Facebook.com/floridasfountainofyouth, Bluesky (@oldfla.bsky.social), and IG (@ricklebee).

NEW: Florida landscape questions — Send us your Florida plant questions and we'll have an expert answer them on the show! Use this link!

Send us your Florida questions!

A reader question about hiking shoes leads to a discussion about best places to hike in Florida. The Florida Madcaps' Chelsea Stevens joins to talk about hiking and water shoes, that time she stepped on a copperhead, and her favorite hikes. 

Links We Mentioned

FloridaHikes.com

Shoes for Hiking Florida Trails

Altra shoes

What are shoe gaiters and do you want them?

Fit2Run

Track Shack

Astral hiking shoes

Hikes in Central Florida

Little Big Econ State Forest

Chelsea's favorite Central Florida hike: Charles Bronson State Forest

Chelsea's favorite hike in Florida: Torreya State Park (and the nearby Apalachicola Bluffs)

Salt Springs

The Yearling Trail with Jody Spring and Long Cemetery

Rick's favorite Central Florida hike: Lyonia Preserve

Support the show

Question or comment? Email us at [email protected].

Subscribe to The Florida Spectacular newsletter, and keep up with Cathy's travels at greatfloridaroadtrip.com. Keep up with Rick at studiohourglass.blogspot.com and get his books at rickkilby.com.

Find Cathy on social media: Facebook.com/SalustriCathy and everywhere else as @CathySalustri; connect with Rick Facebook.com/floridasfountainofyouth, Bluesky (@oldfla.bsky.social), and IG (@ricklebee).

NEW: Florida landscape questions — Send us your Florida plant questions and we'll have an expert answer them on the show! Use this link!

Send us your Florida questions!

Florida does an amazing job with state parks, and perhaps this is best showcased in the Florida Keys. In the inaugural episode, take a tour of some of Brad and Cathy's favorite state parks in the Upper Keys.

State Parks to Visit in the Florida Keys

• Dagny Johnson Key Largo Botanical State Park for hiking and the chance of seeing the endangered woodrat. 

• Windley Key Fossil Reef State Park for the hiking and the history (they have ranger-led tours)

• Indian Key State Park for the history, solitude, lack of mosquitoes, and snorkeling. Paddle out to the island (which has no facilities). Snorkel the patch reef and grass flats by the island.

• Lignumvitae Key Botanical State Park for ranger-led tours, history, and the chance to see one of the last virgin West Indian hardwood hammocks.

Links Brad & Cathy Mentioned

Key Largo woodrat (but is it a rat?)

Bayside Gourmet

Robbie's Islamorada

Matheson home at Lignumvitae

Support the show

Question or comment? Email us at [email protected].

Subscribe to The Florida Spectacular newsletter, and keep up with Cathy's travels at greatfloridaroadtrip.com. Keep up with Rick at studiohourglass.blogspot.com and get his books at rickkilby.com.

Find Cathy on social media: Facebook.com/SalustriCathy and everywhere else as @CathySalustri; connect with Rick Facebook.com/floridasfountainofyouth, Bluesky (@oldfla.bsky.social), and IG (@ricklebee).

NEW: Florida landscape questions — Send us your Florida plant questions and we'll have an expert answer them on the show! Use this link!

Send us your Florida questions!

Take a hike in the swamp! Cathy and Rick talk about hiking in Florida swamps, venomous snakes, and other things you might find as you experience Florida's wilderness. Also, Cathy talks about the time she got lost in the swamp and almost stepped on a venomous snake.

Pictured is the juvenile cottonmouth from Cathy's hike in Big Cypress. No, it's not a Magic Eye; look closely and you'll see him. Or her. Cathy didn't want to check.

Links We Mentioned

Clyde Butcher's swamp walk

Wild hog

Ranger-led tours at Big Cypress

Monroe Station

Cottonmouth facts

Support the show

Question or comment? Email us at [email protected].

Subscribe to The Florida Spectacular newsletter, and keep up with Cathy's travels at greatfloridaroadtrip.com. Keep up with Rick at studiohourglass.blogspot.com and get his books at rickkilby.com.

Find Cathy on social media: Facebook.com/SalustriCathy and everywhere else as @CathySalustri; connect with Rick Facebook.com/floridasfountainofyouth, Bluesky (@oldfla.bsky.social), and IG (@ricklebee).

NEW: Florida landscape questions — Send us your Florida plant questions and we'll have an expert answer them on the show! Use this link!

Send us your Florida questions!

Rick and Cathy talk about Florida places they want to visit in 2024. Unsurprisingly, many of the trips involve kayaking.

Quick Travel Guide to St. Augustine
Meehan's Irish Pub
Osteen's
Casa de Sueños

Quick Travel Guide to West Volusia Heritage Corridor
Cassadaga
DeLand Memorial Hospital Museum
Main Street DeLand
Hontoon Island
The Forgotten Mermaids: Jacques 

Quick Guide to Paddling Ocala National Forest
Juniper Run
Juniper Springs (Campsite info)
Salt Springs Recreation Area
Black Water Creek

Paddling the Wekiva River Area
Wekiwa Springs State Park
King’s Landing
Kelly Park/Rock Springs Run County Park
Emerald Cut

Paddle Rainbow River
Swampy's at the end of the paddle

Paddle Weeki Wachee Springs & the Chassahowitzka
Weeki Wachee Springs State Park
Upper Deck Restaurant

Support the show

Question or comment? Email us at [email protected].

Subscribe to The Florida Spectacular newsletter, and keep up with Cathy's travels at greatfloridaroadtrip.com. Keep up with Rick at studiohourglass.blogspot.com and get his books at rickkilby.com.

Find Cathy on social media: Facebook.com/SalustriCathy and everywhere else as @CathySalustri; connect with Rick Facebook.com/floridasfountainofyouth, Bluesky (@oldfla.bsky.social), and IG (@ricklebee).

NEW: Florida landscape questions — Send us your Florida plant questions and we'll have an expert answer them on the show! Use this link!

Send us your Florida questions!

Rick and Cathy talk about places they want to visit–or revisit—in 2024. Below, find guides to two not-often-visited places in Florida. 

Visit Sanford

Visitor's Guide

December's St. Lucia Festival

Celery Soup—a folk life play

Hollerbach's German Restaurant

Pico Hotel (similar to the Tampa Bay Hotel, now University of Tampa)

Henry's Depot

Folk Artist Alyne Harris at Jeanine Taylor Folk Art

Maya Books

Suffering Bastard

Visit Arcadia, Sebring, and Lake Placid

Arcadia antiques

Arcadia rodeo

Davidson's of Dundee

History of Sebring

Lake June-in-Winter Scrub Preserve State Park

Other Links We Mentioned

Florida Memory — State Archives of Florida

Disney Wilderness Preserve

Lyonia Environmental Center

Lightner Art Nouveau exhibit

Key West Aquarium

Support the show

Question or comment? Email us at [email protected].

Subscribe to The Florida Spectacular newsletter, and keep up with Cathy's travels at greatfloridaroadtrip.com. Keep up with Rick at studiohourglass.blogspot.com and get his books at rickkilby.com.

Find Cathy on social media: Facebook.com/SalustriCathy and everywhere else as @CathySalustri; connect with Rick Facebook.com/floridasfountainofyouth, Bluesky (@oldfla.bsky.social), and IG (@ricklebee).

NEW: Florida landscape questions — Send us your Florida plant questions and we'll have an expert answer them on the show! Use this link!

Send us your Florida questions!

Jacki Levine joins Rick and Cathy today to talk about Once Upon a Time in Florida, a gorgeous coffee table book celebrating 50 years of essays about Florida. Jacki edited the book, which includes essays from Stetson Kennedy, Michael Gannon, and Rick Kilby.

Links We Mentioned

Once Upon a Time in Florida (with discount code XM23) for sale

Review of Once Upon a Time in Florida

Find a talk about the book in your neighborhood.

Florida books Jacki gifts to people: 

Florida's Healing Waters by Rick Kilby

The Sound of the Sea and other Cynthia Barnett books

Jack Davis' books

Florida in Poetry, edited by Jane Anderson Jones and Maurice O'Sullivan

Support the show

Question or comment? Email us at [email protected].

Subscribe to The Florida Spectacular newsletter, and keep up with Cathy's travels at greatfloridaroadtrip.com. Keep up with Rick at studiohourglass.blogspot.com and get his books at rickkilby.com.

Find Cathy on social media: Facebook.com/SalustriCathy and everywhere else as @CathySalustri; connect with Rick Facebook.com/floridasfountainofyouth, Bluesky (@oldfla.bsky.social), and IG (@ricklebee).

NEW: Florida landscape questions — Send us your Florida plant questions and we'll have an expert answer them on the show! Use this link!

Send us your Florida questions!

This week, the "Florida Spectacular" welcomes back a familiar voice — Brad Bertelli, an early and super-popular guest. Cathy, Rick and Brad talk about where to find hidden springs in the Florida Keys, an old manuscript that mentions a "fairy grotto" by Robbies, and how people are "reverse snowbirding" north of Florida.

Links We Mentioned

Robbie's

Last Local

Support the show

Question or comment? Email us at [email protected].

Subscribe to The Florida Spectacular newsletter, and keep up with Cathy's travels at greatfloridaroadtrip.com. Keep up with Rick at studiohourglass.blogspot.com and get his books at rickkilby.com.

Find Cathy on social media: Facebook.com/SalustriCathy and everywhere else as @CathySalustri; connect with Rick Facebook.com/floridasfountainofyouth, Bluesky (@oldfla.bsky.social), and IG (@ricklebee).

NEW: Florida landscape questions — Send us your Florida plant questions and we'll have an expert answer them on the show! Use this link!

Send us your Florida questions!

This week, Florida Spectacular hosts Cathy and Rick celebrate the work of Tim Dorsey. Dorsey created the lovable serial killer Serge Storms, who served vengeance with a side of history... or perhaps history with a side of vengeance. From there, they talk about Florida books for everyone on your holiday shopping list. 

Links we Mentioned

Florida books for every reader

Tim Dorsey books in order

A History of Florida Through Black Eyes by Marvin Dunn

We Come for Good

A People's History of Florida

The Burden of Southern History by C. Vann Woodward

Souvenirs of the Old South: Northern Tourism and Southern Mythology by Rebecca Cawood McIntyre

The Springs of Florida by Doug Stamm

Once Upon a Time in Florida

The History of Florida by Michael Gannon

Gamble Rogers: A Troubadour's Life by Bruce Horovitz 

Dreams in the New Century by Gary Mormino

Healing Waters by Rick Kilby

Backroads of Paradise by Cathy Salustri

Bookstores

Sanford: Maya Books
Deland: Muse Bookshop
Barrel of Books

...and...

Gamble Rogers Folk Festival in St. Augustine

Switchgrass Outfitters

Support the show

Question or comment? Email us at [email protected].

Subscribe to The Florida Spectacular newsletter, and keep up with Cathy's travels at greatfloridaroadtrip.com. Keep up with Rick at studiohourglass.blogspot.com and get his books at rickkilby.com.

Find Cathy on social media: Facebook.com/SalustriCathy and everywhere else as @CathySalustri; connect with Rick Facebook.com/floridasfountainofyouth, Bluesky (@oldfla.bsky.social), and IG (@ricklebee).

NEW: Florida landscape questions — Send us your Florida plant questions and we'll have an expert answer them on the show! Use this link!