PLEASE NOTE, THIS POST MAY INCLUDE AFFILIATE LINKS, MEANING THAT IF YOU CLICK ON A LINK AND MAKE A PURCHASE, I'LL RECEIVE A SMALL COMMISION. THIS WILL COME AT NO COST TO YOU.
When you think about cows in the Black Hills, or the Great American West, you imagine them more as big, juicy, steaks. Like the fillets we chomped down at the Alpine Inn.
You don’t necessarily think cows-milk- ice cream, so I didn’t know what to expect from Black Hills ice cream during our Western Adventure.
Big Dipper Ice Cream – Billings, Montana
While attending the TBEX travel media conference, I’m asked,
“So what is your website about?”
I’m still honing my selling-myself skills, but I always mention ice cream. From the very first conversations at TBEX, those who know Billings, Montana, reply,
“If you like ice cream, you have to visit Big Dipper.” I didn’t think multiple people would steer me wrong, so when we have a few hours of free time, we head out to explore downtown Billings, and taste a little ice cream.
A purveyor of homemade cold treats, Big Dipper creates unique flavors, without going too over the top.
I have no trouble skipping the Black Licorice, and while I normally gravitate to everything peanut butter, I’m experiencing a fruity craving. I end up with the two special flavors.
My scoop of Peach is silky on the tongue, and lightly sweet. The Raspberry Lemonade is satisfyingly tart, without the face pucker.
Big Dipper is true to its name. One scoop here is equivalent to two or three scoops elsewhere.
Shannon enjoys a scoop of the Mexican Chocolate. The advantage of having ice cream together, I get to try extra flavors.
I agree with all of my insistent recommenders, if you are in Billings, Montana, you must visit Big Dipper.
Memorial Team Ice Cream – Mount Rushmore, South Dakota
I like to think that the first draft of the Hamilton Musical included a song about Thomas Jefferson bringing home America’s first written ice cream recipe.
Thomas Jefferson’s comin’ hooome… with ice cream!
I am excited to gaze at the artistic wonder that is Mount Rushmore, but I am even more enthusiastic about trying ice cream based on a recipe from the 1700s.
The ice cream, known as TJ’s Vanilla, is produced for the National Memorial by Pride Dairy.
You can use a bunch of candy, chunks, and swirls, to disguise a subpar vanilla. Making a delicious, flavorful vanilla, that stands on it’s own merit, is ice cream art.
Vanilla ice cream often only tastes of milk, but the vanilla bean really pops in TJ’s vanilla. It provides a refreshing, non-pretentious, delight.
If you’re visiting the Black Hills, and have Mount Rushmore on your bucket list, don’t miss stopping into Memorial Team Ice Cream to taste a piece of ice cream history.
Wall Drug Soda Fountain- Wall, South Dakota
I adore an old-fashioned soda fountain. It brings me back to a time when you couldn’t simply pick up a pint at the store anytime you wish. A time when ice cream was an extravagance.
After window shopping, munching on burgers at the cafe, and taking silly pictures in The Backyard, our visit to Wall Drug, in the Black Hills, ends with a scoop from the soda fountain.
Wall Drug has all of the old-timey lusciousness you want in a soda fountain.
There is a great selection of sundaes, shakes, and handcrafted sodas, but for me, the day requires a simple scoop. I’m not sure what it is about the Black Hills, but like the Big Dipper, I’m in a fruity mood.
The Red Raspberry hits the spot.
The creamy, homemade, ice cream, tastes of fresh picked raspberries. It’s like eating a warm, sunny, day. The quality is above and beyond what I expected for a purposely, touristy, haunt, like Wall Drug.
Like our trip to Caye Caulker,Belize, I didn’t have high expectations for Black Hills ice cream. I ended up being pleasantly surprised. From old-timey ice cream, historic, bucket list, ice cream, and updated, creative flavors, the Black Hills has something for every ice cream lover.
Comments are closed.
Tara
atWe eat a lot of ice cream too, but I never thought to write about it! We visited Wall Drug last year and were actually kind of disappointed in the whole experience – party poopers, I know. We did, however, love the ice cream! It must have been 115 degrees when we visited, so a cold treat in a crazy tourist trap was pretty awesome!