The A24 Travel Guide to Florida is exotic and beautiful.

There is a scene. Around the beginning of the 2017 film The Florida Project As the three young characters tool around Kissimmee’s Route 192 tourist strip to score free ice cream. Behind them floats a kitschy landscape: a giant witch’s head attached to a gift shop, a store shaped like half an orange. “I like orange peel,” says one boy. “It is called A Peel” says the other. Finally, they arrive at their destination: an ice cream shop, molded fiberglass into a solid vanilla ice cream cone.

They’re fleeting moments, a tribute to both the hazy oblivion of childhood and the patchwork technicolor weirdness that created the world next to Disney. In the film, Central Florida is only a backdrop, but a new, serious guide by cult film studio A24—Florida! A guide to America’s most remote flora, fauna and fantasy super-environment– Provides all the context.

Within those pages, you’ll discover that the giant witch’s head is the Magic Castle’s gift shop, which, despite its outward appearance, is pretty much just plain schlep of touristy stuff (even if you can Buy a protected alligator head for $12.99). You’ll also learn from the movie that the Twistee-Treat ice cream shop is an iconic state chain with only a handful of locations — and not all of them currently dish out the frozen dessert.

Although the huge Turtle Orange World was not included in the book, the Clermont Tower of Clermont was built in 1956. There, you can still get coffee with orange cream in the coffee shop on the ground floor. Before Walt Disney felled most of the 80,000 miles of orange groves to find the Happiest Place on Earth, it represents a time when oranges were the main economic driver of the region.

Search for “Florida”. On our website and various results come: Biscayne National Park’s shipwrecks and mangroves, the best places to spot sea turtle nests, psychics and spiritists that make up the city of Cassadaga, and professional pillow fighting is a big thing in the next Miami tournament. A Marriage of the State’s Natural Wonders and Let’s Say… Mystery Characters at their Best by Tyler Gillespie, Author at A24 Book Introduction The Thing About Florida: Exploring the Misunderstood StateAnd Florida Man: Poems. He describes snorkeling at Clearwater Beach and experiencing flashes of bioluminescence in the water. “This must be magic,” he thinks. “Or maybe it’s poisonous.”

in addition The Florida Project, Some of A24’s most popular films use the state’s splendor:spring breakers, ZolaAnd The light of the moon (Pasco County Nudists from Zola Let them all stay in their own distribution). But a few movie mentions are what you’ll see in the studio’s guide. Instead, they surrendered their power in a 600-page love letter to the people who live and breathe the Sunshine State.

Authors like Jeff Vander Meer and Todd Gilmore of jaxpsychogeo.com delve into everyday life, from admiring wildlife refuges to circus lessons to attending monster truck rallies. Jacksonville’s Three Ds are also in the spotlight: authors Danny Walton, Daniel W. Moniz, and Disha Filiaw, whose works depicting the challenges of black characters in North Florida were published to critical acclaim within months of each other, forever bound together.

Listen to episode 1 of Wiki Washi Springs State Park’s Professional Mermaids, with directions on how to experience the life of a mermaid as an ordinary mermaid (just in time for the newbies). The Little Mermaid movie). The Space Coast chapter features major tailgating locations at the Kennedy Space Center and is dedicated (by Audi himself, Orlando podcaster and writer Nick D’Alessandro) to major Florida supermarket chain Publix. The state’s wacky mascots also make an appearance (the Jacksonville Suns baseball team wasn’t all for naming the Jacksonville Jumbo Shrimp).

Are there events (Tampa’s Gasparilla Parade of Pirates), inclusive roller skating clubs (Gay Comic Skate Crew in St. Petersburg), sunken treasure maps, and if you want history? Oh boy, there’s history, including a focus on cultural heritage like Miami journalist Nadge Green of @blackmiamidade.

And lest you think they keep their secrets to themselves, all newcomers are welcome, they have tutorial pages about participating in local festivals. Want to enter Flora-Bama’s annual Interstate Mule Toss? The chart on page 28 explains: Arrive early, pick your dead, wet fish, kiss your mule (according to tradition) and pass out.

Culinary Wonders features both backstories and recipes. Try the Honeydripper straight from Jacksonville, or naturally, the Key Lime Pie, which comes with its own twist. Learn what it’s like to rummage through earthworms and why earthworms from the Panhandle Forest are the best. There’s also the annual Worm Groatin Festival to add to your calendar.

You can get your best angle at Devil’s Cave Prehistoric Springs or roll a cigar and perfect the art of a Cuban sandwich in Ybor City, Tampa. And even if you hope you can’t fight a shark, if you ever find yourself in that situation, there’s a guide for that. Basically punch and hope for the best.

“My version of Florida always starts at the beach because that’s where I fell in love with the state’s nature and saw its magic,” Gillespie says in his introduction. “But it also exists in souvenir shops that sell alligator heads as gifts.” Florida has become the laughing stock of some (deservedly), until the Florida Man troupe took on a life of its own. But by putting the book in the hands of those who love it—and thrive—with the spices, it makes us want to.

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