Wednesday, July 11, 2007

Blue Bell Ice Cream

It didn't take more than a few days in Texas for Scott and I to become acquainted with the greatest feature of the state-- Blue Bell ice cream. We heard about it our first Sunday here, and soon did enough "research" to agree that it is not only the best ice cream on the planet, but also the best edible invention there ever was. And as far was we can tell, it is only sold in Texas. (Don't worry folks: if you come and visit, we promise to have a stock to sample from. Or, it is available for shipping around the country on dry ice.)

The birthplace of Blue Bell ice cream is in Brenham, Texas, a little country town about an hour and a half from our home. And they give daily tours of the factory, with complimentary scoops of ice cream at the conclusion of the tour. What a delightful way to pay homage to the best ice cream on the planet.


So when Allison said she wanted to meet up with her buddy Jenn, who lives in Austin, Texas, I was delighted to realize that half-way between the two was Brenham, Texas. So off we went last Friday, to Brenham.

Sadly, over 945 other people decided to go to Brenham that day too. So the tours filled up, and there was no room for us. Even after explaining to Guest Services that we had driven almost two hours to get there (because apparently everybody does) and then pleading on behalf of our out-of-state guest, there was still no room for us. Oh well. They gave us paper hats, and pointed us to a fabulous sandwich shop, instead. And "Must be Heaven", the sandwich and pie shop, was indeed that good.

And when we returned home, 5 half-gallons of Blue Bell ice cream were waiting for us in the freezer anyway.

PS: The factory doesn't look anything like the above photo, which is posted on the Blue Bell Web site. It looks remarkably like every other modern factory, but they still manage to make extraordinary ice cream.

5 comments:

Lisa said...

I'm hungry now. If I tell John about this icecream, he'll want to visit, so prepare yourselves :)

Lesley said...

If that is all it takes to get you guys to come down and visit, we can have every flavor waiting for you!

Tori said...

Send some our way. I don't think I'll be able to visit for a while. Chris is an icecream fanatic. He loves the stuff. Kendra and Sophie are taking after him too. Do you know if you can order it off their website?

Amelia said...

I love ice cream. We will definitely have to plan a trip there when we come to visit!

Natalie said...

Blue Bell is the best!! I think you can get it in Louisiana too, however I have only had it in the great state of Texas. It all adds into the Texas pride thing.