The Happiest Place on Earth...

...nope, not Disneyland, but IKEA. Today my mom, sister and I had lunch at the IKEA Resturant/Cafe. I had no idea what to expect, I'd never been to an IKEA before at all, I thought maybe something along the lines of a McDonald's at Wal-Mart, I was plesantly surprised. I was really impressed by what I saw, the food was delicious, inexpensive, fairly heathy, and most of all there was recycling and gasp! smart business sense (they ask people to clear/clean their own places so that they need fewer workers and can have less expensive food).
I was also very amused by the store itself, it's almost like a theme park, like going to Disneyland. "Little Suzy, you've just won the big grand prize, what are you going to do?" "I'm going to go to IKEA!" It's set up to be the ultimate all day thing, you go there, the Restaurant/Cafe serves breakfast and I think it opens before the store does, so you get your breakfast there. There's a play place to check your kiddies, you wander around and find your dream furniture, you have your lunch in the Restaurant/Cafe, you shop some more, you find your items, packed and ready to go, you pick up the kiddies, maybe have dinner, or maybe just pick some up in the Swedish Import area so you can make your own Swedish meatballs. After all the fun is had, you pack up and go home.
We didn't actually look at the furniture today but I think it would be fun to do some time, even though it will be a long time before I have the money to shop at IKEA. I think though that some way of marking your trail could be required to make your way back out again...perhaps breadcrumbs.