Denise and Joe Russick relate their experiences on the “Pennsylvania Ice Cream Trail” this summer.
A local couple embarked on a pilgrimage at several of Pennsylvania’s ice cream stands.
This is the second year for the Pennsylvania Ice Cream Trail, sponsored by the Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture and Community and Economic Development.
Joe and Denise Russick, operators of the Crooked Creek Market, decided to participate.
The PA Ice Cream Trail includes an incentive-based passport program that encourages customers to earn a reward, such as a T-shirt or ice cream scoop, for visiting participating creameries. Last year, more than 1,500 passports were redeemed by those who visited more than six creameries included on the trail.
Denise described their experience:
Now with kids out of the house, this was an opportunity to spend valuable, quality time with my husband, being confined in the car, checking out these places. Nah, he’s not really up to it - but then one day we went for a ride around Templeton and ended up at Widnoon Ice Cream. We realized that this is one of those stops and the pursuit begins. A couple weeks afterwards, there’s a front page article in the Kittanning Paper about this program. (The only difference is that the banana split they pictured didn’t look like the banana split we had, but that’s neither here nor there.)
Here’s my review of the 5 places we went to on Sunday afternoons, spending quality time in the car! So we started off at Widnoon (Armstrong County). It was close to home and I liked the scenic area. My husband tells me the “parking areas” are for the hunters. OH, ok - I’ll go with it! I’ve been to the Widnoon Methodist Church around the corner. They have a really nice pancake breakfast. It is a really nice personable community.
Then we went to Westmoreland County’s Kerber Dairy. Geez-oh-man! They have miniature golf (I got a hole in one crossing the creek) AND an all season tube slide from 7pm-8:30pm. It’s Sunday and we have to work tomorrow so we couldn’t stay to slide. I love Dutch Chocolate Almond ice cream and they had it there. I don’t remember, but my husband probably got plain ol’ vanilla or maybe chocolate chip. (He is partial to Breyer’s Vanilla.)
Our next Sunday, we ventured to Beaver County’s Windy Ridge Dairy. As we traveled, GPS on, I was thinking that it was a nice scenic ride, but who would travel all these quiet back roads? During our stop, I got Raspberry Pretzel ice cream. It wasn’t quite to my liking (many would disagree), and my husband got a Blueberry Shake along with my Raspberry Pretzel. As they say - to each their own. I was trying different flavors on this trail. We left and by golly, I-79 was just at the end of the road coming from the opposite direction. We had come from the back door, so to speak. Heck, it was early, so my husband says “Let’s take a look at the next place from here”. It was an hour from here, but remember, we also just drove about an hour, so this will save us starting out again. We’ll just make a loop back to home by stopping at Mt. Lebanon’s Betsy’s Ice Cream, Allegheny County. After giving up on finding a parking spot, my husband waited - double parked - with the engine running - as I ran into this little cozy 8×10 (IDK, it was small and cozy) business. I got Amaretto ice cream and loved it! My hubby got the Pittsburgh mix: Butter Cream with Peanut Butter Cups and Brownies (that was the key word there – brownies). He loved it! We didn’t care for each other’s flavors - that’s how we get to taste a variety of flavors (smile). The town was beautiful; the architecture was crispy. Time to head home, I needed to get to work. BTW check the hours of operation, some of them closed at 5 every day!
The Russicks remarked about the quality of a sundae from Jackson’s Farm in New Salem, Fayette County. The dairy offers their own ice cream. They are also known for outstanding chocolate milk. The farm was one stop on a state-wide tour of ice cream outlets.
The last stop was August 18 at Vale Woods Dairy in Loretto, Cambria County, off Route 422. This was a much better straight ride to Cresson than a zigzag ride to Jackson’s Farm in New Salem, Fayette County as portrayed on MapQuest. It was off the beaten path but DEFINITELY worth it! All their sundaes come with only hot fudge topping. Mint Chip was his choice and Raspberry Truffle was mine. This sundae was covered in at least a cup full of hot fudge and it was hot fudge not chocolate syrup! Once the whipped cream and cherry were added, the height doubled! They had a game yard of activities for kids and photo ops. What a great way to end the day!
What great places we got to visit! In four of our stops, the creamery was part of dairy farms where you can see the cows grazing and the corn more than knee high.
There are three other places in Centre and Blair counties, but my husband already told me that the 500 miles we did to earn a T-shirt was good enough for him. If you were to visit all nine places, you would also get a “Pursue Your Scoops” ice cream bowl.
Now our goal is the Westmoreland Heritage Passport, another finding from www.uncoveringPA.com as we await the arrival of our T-shirts.