#chiflowertweetup and #chiflowereatup

Hello, friends who are attending the Chicago Flower and Garden Show! Twitter is an awful way to plan anything so let's try it this way. Here is what's happening on March 5:

3 pm: tweetup at the Crystal Garden at Navy Pier
#chiflowertweetup

For those who don't know Navy Pier, here is a map: http://www.navypier.com/visit_us/pier_maps.html#
The Crystal Garden is near the entrance, upper level. I think enough of us can recognize each other that we don't need any big signs or balloons. Just look for a bunch of happy people standing around! From here, groups can move on to the actual show, which is farther down the pier in the Festival Hall.


8-ish pm: some sort of dinner plan!
#chiflowereatup
The show closes at 8 on Saturday, and some folks may want to go back to their hotel between show and dinner. This whole dinner thing has become very complicated so here is my proposal. There are three vegan-friendly restaurants in the neighborhood of Navy Pier and the hotels many people are staying in near Michigan Avenue:
Big Bowl
Grand Lux Cafe
Heaven on Seven
All three are relatively affordable and have a lot of variety so there should be something for everyone. Please look at the menus and tell me in the comments 1) whether you intend to join us for dinner, and 2) if you have a preference for restaurant, and I will call the winning restaurant sometime Wednesday and see if I can get a reservation for 8pm Saturday for a lot of people.

IF it looks like none of the restaurants can accommodate us, we can eat somewhere on Navy Pier. I don't know how busy those restaurants are but there are several, including the very fancy food court! So at least there's a fall-back plan.

May I also request that people coming to dinner bring cash? If the restaurant won't do separate checks, splitting the check is easier with cash.


A note about transportation:
It is forecast to sleet and snow on Saturday. (Welcome to Chicago, haha!) Regardless of the weather, a cab is almost always the best way to get to and from the Pier. If we cram a bunch of people in a cab, getting to the restaurant will not be expensive per person. Parking on the Pier is I believe $14; if you do bring a car, it would be great if you could shuttle some people to dinner or hotel. Parking near the restaurant will be expensive (maybe $20?), regardless of which place we choose. Just a warning. For hardy souls, walking from hotel to Pier or Pier to restaurant is about a half hour, not a big deal unless the weather is awful. Of course there are also buses that go to Navy Pier; that's my plan. Bus info is at http://transitchicago.com

Okay, comment away! And let me know if anyone has better ideas!