It was the kind of road trip to leave a good taste in almost anyone’s mouth.
Calgary resident Richard Stroobant and daughter Danica recently wrapped up Ice Cream Tour 2015, a sort of unofficial taste-testing tour of the finest frozen dairy offerings between Calgary and B.C.’s Southern Interior.
“Over 1,700 kilometres, visiting 20 ice cream shops in seven days. Spending time with my awesome daughter, exploring Alberta and B.C., enjoying some great adventures and eating the best ice cream we could find. What a great daddy/daughter week,” writes Stroobant on the blog Ice Cream Tour at https://icecreamtour.wordpress.com/author/stroobant/.
Stroobant said the idea for the tour was born over a bowl of ice cream, as a way to put a unique spin on the annual summer vacation.
Before hitting the road, Stroobant said he used social media to solicit input as to where they should stop during his quest to taste the best home-made ice cream. Sicamous’ D Dutchmen Dairy was among the more popular replies.
“I’ve got to be honest, I drove right through Sicamous last year, didn’t even know D Dutchmen was there until I put the request out on social media and then boom, all of a sudden I’m getting dozens of people saying you’ve got to go there. It’s the best place in B.C.,” said Stroobant.
D Dutchmen was stop number six on the tour. Stroobant was immediately impressed by the fact it’s an actual working dairy.
“Seriously. You can hear the cows mooing when you’re ordering,” writes Stroobant on the blog.
When it came to choosing what flavour to order, Richard went with the recommendation of lemon pie, while Danica opted for Brown Cow.
“Both were very rich, fresh, creamy, fresh, mouth-watering… did I mention it was fresh? Why bother with preservatives when Betsy is just out back?”
The experience scored a rank of 8.5 licks out of 10.
While in the area, Richard and Danica went for a tube ride (pulled by a speedboat) on Mara Lake. That wound up being their favourite activity during the trip.
“Oh my god was this ever fun. I don’t think I’ve ever seen my daughter laugh and smile more than when she was on that tube with her friends, not even with a cone in her hand.”
Sky Trek Adventure Park also made the Stroobants’ top-five list of activities.
As for ice cream shops, Fernie’s Happy Cow had the honour of receiving the Stroobants’ highest rating, an 11 licks out of 10.
While ice cream played a big part of their trip, Richard stressed it was also about unplugging and having fun with family.
“The theme of it really is inconsequential,” said Stroobant. “It’s just more of a chance to go out and spend some time with your family, get them off their devices and, quite honestly, getting ourselves off our own devices, and spending some time enjoying. We’re going to go see a lot of different things.”