May 31, 2024 Chocolate Shop Ice Cream, Middletown, Wisconsin ‘Genuine Super-Premium Wisconsin Goodness’ – the locals love it and said we had to try it – so we did – The Chocolate shop Ice Cream. We were the first customers of the day, and although the picture boards with the menus were not yet lit, we were cheerfully greeted by the staff. Ice cream cases with many interesting flavors were adorned with beautiful ice cream cones of varying colors and coatings. The servers offered samples, so I had to try Rhubarb Crumble -mostly because I do not like rhubarb and wondered how such a flavor could ..read more

March 18, 2024 La Lecheria Railyard, Santa Fe, New Mexico La Lecheria Railyard At a very busy train station, in a recently renovated area of Santa Fe, New Mexico, is La Lecheria Railyard – the first place winner of the 2023 Santa Fe Reporter “Best of Santa Fe” (I have no idea what that means, but it sounds impressive). A clean, modern-looking shop with interesting paintings on the wall (available for purchase) and attractive menu boards. It is a beautiful shop designed to relax and enjoy their craft ice cream. There were books, including children’s books in a basket, which I imagine get a lot ..read more

March 15, 2024 McGinn’s PistachioLand, Alamogordo, New Mexico McGinn’s Pistachioland McGinn’s PistachioLand is known best for its large pistachio sculpture visible along the road. With an ostentatious landmark such as this, we expected it to be a tourist trap, but it actually was a fun place to visit. As we drove in, a trolley emerged from a field of young pistachio trees behind a shop. The trolley was giving tours of the farm which were probably very interesting, but were unfortunately sold out for the day. We ventured into the shop, which had just about everything a tourist could want. We by ..read more

March 16, 2024 Icicles Homemade Ice Cream Rolls, Albuquerque, New Mexico Icicles Homemade Ice Cream Rolls is a chain in New Mexico that we had not previously visited. When we entered, we were cheerfully greeted by staff and given a crash course in how to order the perfect ice cream roll via their computer (I admit, I really did not like ordering on the computer – it lost the personal touch that I enjoy in ice cream shops) – first choose a size (I took small), then a base (‘Time for Reese’s’), mix-ins (I skipped this step), toppings (I was an over achiever choosing brownie bits, toasted marshm ..read more

March 13, 2024 Yoly’s Paleteria, Roswell, New Mexico 76 years ago, aliens are believed to have landed in a field near Roswell, New Mexico. Today the town has an alien museum and alien/spaceship pictures nearly everywhere, making it a fun town to explore. During our exploration we found at Yoly’s Paleteria. According to on-line sources, a “paleteria”, has no direct English translation, but is a basically a pushcart that sells ice creams and ice pops, mainly with fruit. Yoly’s Paleteria, is not a pushcart, it is a brightly lit, attractive shop that sells a variety of tasty looking Mexican food ..read more

October 18, 2023 Kozmic Cones, Hilo Hawaii While “Kozmic Cones” conjures up thoughts of ice cream, this shop also has a vibrant breakfast business. Score one for us – ice cream early in the morning. Kozmic Cones is a very nice shop, with a walk up counter and plenty of seating at booths. The walls are beautifully painted – someone here must be an artist. This is a great place to enjoy ice cream, but would also be a great place to meet friends for coffee. Today’s special were small ice cream sundaes. Since it was early in the day, we decided to go for it – we both got pineapple sundaes which w ..read more

February 18, 2024 Sweet Ride Ice Cream, West Reading, PA I have been to Sweet Ride Ice Cream before – it’s one of my favorites -a beautiful, friendly, nicely designed and decorated shop with great, homemade ice cream in plenty of interesting flavors – what more could and ice cream blogger ask for? When we walked in to the shop, we were greeted by the folks behind the counter and given all the time we wanted to peruse our choices. In addition to ice cream, signature sundaes and plenty of topping choices, they also had vegan ice cream, ice cream drinks and ice cream cup cakes. They even have an ..read more

October 14, 2023 Scandinavian Shave Ice, Kailua-Kona, Hawaii Kona Hawaii is a delightful town on the Pacific Ocean with plenty of shops, historic sites. and breath- taking scenery. It was here that we found Scandinavian Shave Ice. Hawaiian Shave Ice is a traditional dessert in Hawaii in which a block of ice is shaved into small pieces and flavored with syrups. The creations are colorful, usually quite large and often include a scoop of ice cream in the middle of the ice. I happily partook of the wonderful traditional food while in Kona watching the Ironman race. It always feels a little ironi ..read more

October 19, 2023 Dave’s Ice cream, Honolulu, Hawaii Dave’s Ice Cream “Made Fresh in Hawaii” has multiple locations in Hawaii. We drove into the parking lot (free and coinvent parking -score one for Dave’s) parked and walked in to the shop where we were met by both nicely painted walls and friendly employees pleased to let us try their ice cream. I was happy to oblige them. First I tried Ube Ice Cream which is a purple yam flavor, I did not expect to like it, but found both its flavor and texture pleasing. Next I tried Kulolo Ice Cream, which is a taro flavor, one of their best sellers, this t ..read more

(Big Island Abalone. Greenwell Farms, Kona Salt Farm) October 16, 2023 Gypsea Gelato, Kealakekua, Big Island, Hawaii Gypsea Gelato was an interesting place where one could come for the ice cream (or gelato) or expresso and stay to play Connect Four or corn hole, shop for a new hat, look at artwork or sit on a comfortable chair to read a book or play on their cell phone – an ice cream shop that has it all! Seating included a wooden boat with plenty of children’s books, large tables for groups, and padded throne-style chairs. Seating to make you feel like royalty There were plenty of frozen tre ..read more