Florida Spectacular

Send us your Florida questions!

Meet Dr. Jaret Daniels, the curator at the Florida Museum of Natural History's McGuire Center for Lepidoptera and Biodiversity and Professor of Entomology at the University of Florida. That’s right, a butterfly expert.

He talks to Cathy and Jon about how why some milkweed makes monarchs want to have sex – and whether or not that’s a bad thing, where to see the best butterflies in the Florida Keys, and whether or not Florida has invasive butterflies.

Find his books on Amazon or at an indie bookseller, and if you have a chance, visit his open  lab at UF where he works with conservation and rare species. 

Want more Florida? Subscribe to The Florida Spectacular newsletter, and keep up with Cathy's travels at greatfloridaroadtrip.com.

Follow Jon's road trip adventures at Don't Make Me Turn This Van Around.

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 Jamie Rich, the founder, publisher, and editor of Flamingo Magazine. They talk about the newest issue – on newsstands now! – as well as Jamie's favorite parts of the Jacksonville beaches. Have a Florida question – travel-related or otherwise? Drop us a line.

Links we mentioned:

Flags over Fernandina

Jean Ribault ferry

If you visit the beaches:

The Bookmark

North Beach Fish Camp

Safe Harbor Seafood

Want more Florida? Subscribe to The Florida Spectacular newsletter, and keep up with Cathy's travels at greatfloridaroadtrip.com.

Follow Jon's road trip adventures at Don't Make Me Turn This Van Around.

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 Cathy and Jon talk about Florida supermarkets, grocery stores, which – shocker – include more than simply Publix. Join them on the podcast that went a little sideways and veered into the history of Winn-Dixie, Hitchcocks, and the Aldi Aisle of Shame. 

Links we mentioned:

History of Winn Dixie

History of Hitchcock's (and a link we found after the show)

Dowling Park, Florida

Aldi Quarter Keepers, Aisle of Shame, and Facebook group

Want more Florida? Subscribe to The Florida Spectacular newsletter, and keep up with Cathy's travels at greatfloridaroadtrip.com.

Follow Jon's road trip adventures at Don't Make Me Turn This Van Around.

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, Cathy and Jon talk about Florida's "Southern" beach: Amelia Island. They also talk about the history and beauty of Fort Clinch, the War of Jenkins Ear, and why you should stop for boiled peanuts on every road trip.

Amelia Island

Fernandina Beach

More about the War of Jenkins Ear and Cathy's (notably less academic) article about the War of Jenkin's Ear.

Fort Clinch State Park

Amelia Island Museum of History

Fort Clinch history author Frank A. Ofeldt III at Friends of Fort Clinch State Park

Fort Clinch books by Frank A. Ofeldt

Jon's article about his son and boiled peanuts

Cathy's article about a road trip through Fernandina

Want more Florida? Subscribe to The Florida Spectacular newsletter, and keep up with Cathy's travels at greatfloridaroadtrip.com.

Follow Jon's road trip adventures at Don't Make Me Turn This Van Around.

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, Cathy and Jon talk about Everglades City, Chokoloskee, and the Tamiami Trail. They also help out a listener looking for travel advice crossing the state from Englewood to the Hard Rock in Hollywood. 

Send us your Florida road trip questions.

Links we mentioned:

Forrey Grill

Lake Okeechobee Scenic Trail

Camping at Lake Okeechobee (Okeechobee County and Army Corps of Engineers)

Everglades City

Rod & Gun Club

Lucky Cole photography and Lucky Cole's on Loop Road.

Joannie's Blue Crab 

Want more Florida? Subscribe to The Florida Spectacular newsletter, and keep up with Cathy's travels at greatfloridaroadtrip.com.

Follow Jon's road trip adventures at Don't Make Me Turn This Van Around.

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, Cathy and Jon talk to Ben Montgomery about Axios Local, journalism, and why the City of Tampa should set aside one day a year where it's legal to camp in any of its parks. It's kind of a wild podcast, so buckle up and tune in.

Ben Montgomery is a journalist and author of four nonfiction books, and he writes a local newsletter for Axios. Twitter: @gangrey.

Want more Florida? Subscribe to The Florida Spectacular newsletter, and keep up with Cathy's travels at greatfloridaroadtrip.com.

Follow Jon's road trip adventures at Don't Make Me Turn This Van Around.

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, your hosts Cathy Salustri and Jon Kile talk to John Athanason, who spent almost two decades doing marketing for the world's most famous mermaids – the Weeki Wachee mermaids! Last year, he started working with Florida's Adventure Coast Visitors Bureau, and he joins the podcast ready to talk about the best places along Florida's Adventure Coast (think Brooksville and Weeki Wachee) – including some you've probably never hear of, much less visited.

Links we mentioned:

Tourism website

Chinsegut

Downtown Brooksville

Withlacoochee State Forest

Richloam General Store

Want more Florida? Subscribe to The Florida Spectacular newsletter, and keep up with Cathy's travels at greatfloridaroadtrip.com.

Follow Jon's road trip adventures at Don't Make Me Turn This Van Around.

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" hosts Cathy Salustri and Jon Kile talk about Disney, Reedy Creek, and Ron DeSantis – as well as the PeopleMover, Disney prices, and why there are no mosquitoes at Walt Disney World.

Want more Florida? Subscribe to The Florida Spectacular newsletter, and keep up with Cathy's travels at greatfloridaroadtrip.com.

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 a new co-host, Jon Kile. Jon's a Florida-based writer who loves Worldle but hates Wordle, loves to camp with his family in and out of the state, and posts tales of his adventures at dontmakemeturnthisvanaround.com. 

Cathy and Jon talk with Maureen McDole about the upcoming SunLit literary festival (produced by Keep St. Pete Lit) the antiquarian book fair, and the St. Petersburg area's cultural and fishing mashup.

Links we mentioned:

SunLit Festival (April 1-3, 2022)

SunLit on Facebook

Florida Antiquarian Book (April 1-3, 2022)

Keep St. Pete Lit on Facebook and Instagram

Want more Florida? Subscribe to The Florida Spectacular newsletter, and keep up with Cathy's travels at greatfloridaroadtrip.com.

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 Florida Keys historian Brad Bertelli. Brad's penned several books about Florida and the Florida Keys, most recently the (mostly) fictionalized "The Florida Keys Skunk Ape Files." Cathy and Brad talk about Brad's new (and wildly popular) Facebook group, Florida Keys History with Brad Bertelli, keys people have never heard of, and how Dildo Key got its name.

Want more Florida? Subscribe to The Florida Spectacular newsletter, and keep up with Cathy's travels at greatfloridaroadtrip.com.

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!