University Creameries

Last weekend we drove to Newark, DE to visit our friends Jean and Bill. Jean and I first met in 1993 when she started to work for the Woodrow Wilson Foundation. We attended their 1994 wedding. About 5 years later Jean told me about a job opening in the development office at Rider University. We had the pleasure of working together for a couple of more years before I moved onto Princeton Day School's Alumni and Development Office.

Last fall Jean retired from Rider University. She and her husband sold their home and moved to Newark, DE, home to the University of Delaware. Jean and Bill invited us down to check out their new hometown.

Knowing us as well as she does, Jean immediately suggested we start our tour at the University of Delaware Creamery. Well...for the cause, you know. ;) 

As winter break was still in session, the campus was very quiet. We were able to stare at the menu and drool over choices such as Peppermint Bark (white chocolate ice cream with crushed candy canes and chocolate chunks), Peppermint Hot Chocolate ice cream (mint chocolate ice cream with crushed Andes Mint candies) and Not-tella (chocolate hazelnet ice cream with a hazelnut graham cracker swirl). Oh they also have traditional flavors, but those were the ones we put into a giant 3 scoop serving. The creamery is run by university students as a way to learn how to market and run a small business, as well as features the milk from the cows on the other side of the parking lot. We've already determined this is a must-do rest stop when traveling south on I-95. Done right, we'd even avoid a $4 toll, and use that money to buy some ice cream! If only they had public rest rooms.

This is the third creamery we have visited. The second one was the Dairy Store at Michigan State University. We visited that creamery while in Michigan visiting Ashley's friend, Emma, and her family. 

MSU learned a key lesson -- the name really matters! If you are an OSU fan, how could you pass up a Buckeye flavor? Most, if not all, of their flavors were named after competing school teams. 

The mecca of university creameries seems to be at Penn State University, reputed to be the largest university creamery in the nation. It certainly was the largest looking operation of the few we have seen.

Always up for recommendations of creameries to visit -- they don't have to be on university campuses to count.

As a a side bonus, the trip helped me with my top goal for the new year -- spending more time with friends, especially those who have recently moved. Hopefully we'll see Jean and Bill back up in Lawrenceville for Music in the Park, and we hope to go to Newark for some minor league baseball or other fun activities in the warmer weather.

For now, I scream, you scream, we all scream for ICE CREAM!