My day started with a wonderful surprise! Ice cream!
I spotted a blog post with a large photo of a dreamy, tasty Dairy Queen Peanut Buster Parfait! I had to go get one of my own! My photo is at the top but I don’t mind if you take a moment to check out my blogger friend’s photo and post. Go ahead and click here.
Are you back? Or are you still drooling at the sight of the white creaminess, the lovely peanuts and glorious chocolate?! Yes, blogger Audrey Kletscher Helbling at Minnesota Prairie Roots did a fine job of getting me in the mood for spring and icy treats. I commented on her post and shared my favorite Dairy Queen story with her. She replied, “Thanks for sharing this fun story.
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I am going to share my Diary Queen story with you and a few other ice cream memories. Get ready for lots of exclamation points!!!
My first memory of going with with my family to buy an ice cream cone was a car trip to Isaly’s. Isaly’s has been around since the early 1900’s and many people through the years have shared their memories of Isaly’s. I loved their rainbow sherbet piled on a cone in their traditional “rocket” type scoop. Many other Isaly fans love their iconic chip chopped ham and Klondike Bars.
Next, on annual family vacations to Lakeside, Ohio my family and I walked (I skipped) to the Patio to get orange sherbet ice cream cones after the evening entertainment at Hoover Auditorium.
By the time I was in high school, I usually went on ice cream runs with my friends.
We enjoyed a local place Barnhills, a fun place with a 1890’s theme. Barnhills introduced me to the large, multi-ingredient type of sundae. Me and my gang were thrilled when Baskin-Robbins 31 came to town. BR moved in to the same strip mall that had been home to Isaly’s, which had closed. Third-one new flavors every month- wow! Now each brand of ice cream in the grocery freezer aisle has at least that many flavors and concoctions!
Pretty soon, we all could drive and we didn’t have to beg our parents to take a station wagon full of teens to get their treats. We found out about Strickland’s an iconic walk-up, seasonal soft serve ice cream place, with a weekly special flavor. Banana was one of the most popular flavors- we had to make a run whenever we heard that it was available. Wait- how did we find out about the special flavor without social media? Strickland’s parking lot was always packed. The original store had a great view of the Goodyear blimp air dock.
College introduced me to Dairy Queen and the best sundae in the world!
The Peanut Buster Parfait! My friends and I would study and then walk two miles to the DQ to treat ourselves. Yes, that was my first experience with balancing calories with exercise.
Once I was married with kids, we had fun treating the kids to the same ice cream delights. What can be sadder than to see a beloved child’s big, sparkling eyes fill with tears as their amazing scoop of ice cream plops off the cone and splats on the parking lot?
I have added a few other local, walk-up favorites through the years. Can’t resist one that looks like a cone! How does a fresh peach or strawberry sundae sound right now?
And now for my most recent ice cream story, which brings back the Dairy Queen Peanut Buster Parfait after an absence of at least twenty years from my life. Here’s the story I shared with my blogger friend, Audrey.
In January, my husband and I were driving to Florida. We were on the second day of our journey and had just crossed the Florida state line. We cheered but then realized that we had hours to go- Florida is a long state as I am sure many of you know. We grew tired and cranky, not so much “hangry” as “tranky”. My husband decided to stop for gas. We pulled into a tire-looking gas station. As we stopped at the pump, we debated about using the facilities. We looked to see where to go and then we saw it! Attached to the shabby convenience mart was a Dairy Queen! Yes, we had found our oasis. We didn’t listen at all to the voices in our heads that cautioned about calories and sugar- we dashed to the DQ counter and ordered two magnificent Peanut Buster Parfaits. Oh my, I’ve been to Paradise!
Those sundaes were perfect and we made sure that each bite gave us the correct ratio of chocolates and peanuts. We revived and felt great, zest and happy. Three weeks later on the way home, we stopped again!! And now that I read Audrey’s post and saw her luscious photo, I am heading to Dairy Queen- with my coupon!
What about you- I’d love to hear your ice cream or special treat stories!
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