Elizabeth

285 N. Broad St., Elizabeth, NJ

Sure, there were some sketchy parts off the main drag through town and buildings there do look quite old, but it's nowhere nearly as rough in appearance as I thought it'd be.  The federal building in which we had our business was also quite nice as far as government service centers go.  Very empty, very large spaces, very well-lit.  They didn't allow any photography inside, so I couldn't take any pictures for the memories.

After driving through some of those rough spots and getting lost in a heavily industrialized part of town (looked like one giant Superfund site), we got to IKEA to unwind.

Ikea Elizabeth

I'd never been to an IKEA before, ever, and my wife has described the place like it's heaven.  Everything is inexpensive and nice and it's wonderful.  Little did I know, she was right.

It's a very bizarre place.  It's like a museum of modern home decor, with entire faux apartments set up inside that are fully decorated.  Unlike a museum though, everything is tagged, and you can buy all of it.  At the end of the museum is Swedish food like meatballs (which I can expect) and elderberry juice (which is strange).

Swedish meatballs, mashed potatoes, lingonberry jam, a side salad, a diet Pepsi, and a box of elderberry juice

After you eat some Swedish food, you go downstairs into a place that looks a lot more like a store.  You fill up your bag with home decoration doodads, shoes and bags, and pay for it.  Then there's a grocery store that sells fish in a tube, and you can buy $0.50 hot dogs (on a bun, of course) that are somehow cheaper than a cup of coffee or a bag of chips.  Then you go home.

Or in our case, you drive most of the way home, get sidetracked, and spend another four hours at Costco and Target before going home.