Atlanta 2010 – Day 1 (The trip over, IKEA)

The vacation began perfectly with us sleeping late and grabbing some biscuits at McDonalds. We made it to Atlanta around noon and stopped by our hotel to check in. It was then time to go to where Magan has dreamed of going for so very long. We were going to the Atlanta IKEA store.

This is a massive woman store that many may never get to see, and many of the men I saw coming out had a dazed look and others were in corners calling loudly for their wifes to come get them. One of them held up a sign that said he needed money, for his bride had left him for IKEA.

Let me lay out this store for those who have not been sucked in by its talons of evil modern day home furnishings. It has two levels of a parking garage beneath level 1. Level 1 contains the Warehouse, Checkout area, Kid’s Play area, and a torturous path through various lighting fixtures, shelving arrangements, and full wall modern art pieces and Swiss writing throughout, that seem to reach out to the female species of this world and hold them at each area until every item of every station has been noticed and approved of. The opposite effect was noticed by me as we slowly moved through the area. I felt much like Dorothy must have felt when traversing across the field of flowers to the emerald city, when the Wicked Witch caused sleepiness to fall over the field.

Level 2 leads you through a pathway of various decorated rooms and ideas for filling even the smallest of spaces. This level also had the cafeteria.

We ate lunch at IKEA, then purchased our park hopper passes to enjoy the rest of the store. The kids played in the play area (watched by IKEA employees) while we shopped. We left the store around 6 that evening leaving Magan with visions of IKEA furnishings dancing in her head. This is also where Sam bought BULLY.

We ended the day in the pool at our hotel. It was fun, and a good end to a long day.