I've been to the Gainesville area a bunch. I had some high school friends who went to school there and I visited the area around campus. Pretty much the generic college town. Not much there besides the university and businesses supported by the university. My uncle used to have a lake house on Lake Santa Fe, outside of "town". There was literally nothing there besides retired folks living on the lake. The lake was nice, we used to water ski in it all the time but outside of that, there was NOTHING else to do. I mean, heading to the flea market is a big to-do up there. Cool spot to spend a weekend but I'd never be able to live there.