good, not chain breakfast is preety hard to come by in gville. we don't even have a good diner type place.

Breakfast...check
Reception...good good.....

Hopefully the reception will be cool, I really have no idea what to expect. Anything from a card table where I pick up my wrist band and tshirt...to a full blown drunken street party. I guess I'll have to wait and see.

But still...I'm going to be wandering the streets of Gainesville Fl for about 8 hours before the Fest officially starts....theres nothing cool I should check out? Help me out here.

Oh, and by things to do I mean things to do within walking distance...walking distance being a few miles.

haha. Is it even possible to hate IHOP?!?!

this thread was helpful. I'm getting into Gainesville around 1pm and the people I'm staying with are driving in (I'm flying/busing it) so I honestly have NO idea what time they're going to be getting there... they have all the info so I can't check into a hotel either. I'm gonna need to keep myself entertained till they get there.


ps - I understand trying to not support chains, I've done it myself in the past. but fuck, IHOP is so good!

What am I curious to know is there a Waffle House anywhere in the Gainesville area/vincinity of where the venues/hotels are at? I can get IHOP whenever I want up here in NY, so whenever I head down south I try to enjoy my Waffle House time. Yeah, its gross but I love it.

I was told there's also a Sonic near the official Fest hotel. That is something I want to take advantage of as well (yet another thing we don't have here).

Oh man, theres a sonic???
Their peach smoothies are THE BEST.

Theres nothing wrong with a place that lets you spend 2 dollars on never ending coffee and you can sit and smoke your cigarettes till however fuck long you want. Thats why IHOP is king.

That said I'll look for something local. Its just more interesting that way.

shoot, you can smoke in restaurants? can you smoke in bars too?

Not in the Chicago city limits anymore, no. The 'burbs all still allow smoking, though. Although a few shows I've been to since then have just kinda had a "Fuck it, I need a smoke" attitude.

you can smoke anywhere that they DON'T serve food...
so all bars are ok... some bowling alleys... churches...

but sadly, restaurants are non-smoking.

so all the 16 year old goth kids that sit around dennys drinking coffee for 5 hours complaining about the new ministry album are super sad.

Come to NC, you can smoke anywhere.

As for hating on IHOP, it's justified. I mean, they automatically deduct money from your paycheck to pay for a meal each day you work. Even if you don't want to eat anything. I still don't understand how that is even legal.

I'd go with waffle house. Still a chain, and they probably also treat employees like shit, but at least they dont steal their money. And their food is cheaper...and yes possibly even better. Possibly.

quick food around the Fest hotel...checkout el indio for mexican stuff vegans too:
http://maps.google.com/maps?hl=en&safe=off&ie=UTF-8&q=%22el+indio%22&near=Gainesville,+FL&fb=1&view=text&latlng=29654730,-82339170,17910738910287131611&dtab=0&ei=DSceR-ntNYOiqwKc7MV7#

locally owned...not chain, even though they have a second location