Ring Mountain

Our next stop for ice cream found us in Eagan at Ring Mountain Creamery. Eagan does not seem like the place you would go for really good ice cream since there is no dairy, no cows, and no quaint downtown, but don't let that detour you! Ring Mountain Creamery has everything you could want in a good ice cream shop combined with everything you need in a suburban coffee shop atmosphere. With 24 flavors of ice cream AND 24 flavors of gelato, you are sure to find something to cure your sweet tooth. If you aren't in the mood for sweet, they also have a cafe menu complete with coffee drinks, sandwiches and salads. Once you have your menu choice, you can retire into a booth or comfortable chair and play a round of Jenga or Chinese Checkers. A full shelve full of games lines the wall for you to use during your visit. If you find yourself hosting a large group, there is a large table with a center turntable to make sharing easier!

The kids and I visited on a Friday afternoon in August. The shop was not busy on this cool, blustery afternoon, which suited us just fine. We brought Grandpa and Grandma along, who live nearby and are somewhat regulars at the place, to show us the ropes. The kids choose blue gelato, chocolate cake batter, and cake batter. I choose Butterfinger. Grandpa chose root beer float. Grandma chose dark chocolate chunk gelato. The kids all found the flavors sweet and pleasant. And I had to agree that this was some of the sweetest ice cream we have had all summer. But I was amazed at how well the flavor profiles resembled their namesake. Cake batter, both vanilla and chocolate, tasted just like a finger swipe from the bowl of freshly mixed cake batter. Root beer float really did have the complexity of root beer combined with vanilla ice cream. Butterfinger was pleasantly sweet with plenty of Butterfinger chunks. The dark chocolate chunk gelato was smooth vanilla flavor with wonderful dark chocolate chunks. The flavors were not as complex and well blended as, say Izzy's. But to my kids, that is actually a good thing.

The kids rated the ice cream adventure well. They thought the ice cream tasted good and was a good value. The staff was patient as we sampled all sorts of flavors to decide what to finally made it into our cups. They do have a kid's scoop option, a perfect amount for my three and me, which I always appreciate. The only problem they had was ice cream on a cold day can make you cold. Lesson learned!

Of course our adventures wouldn't be complete with a comment on what else the area holds. This shop unfortunately didn't hold much in the adventure category. It is smack dap in the middle of a retail strip mall near the movie theater and Target. However, it doesn't take much for my kids to be entertained. The small pond outside had ducks swimming. They were entertained for minutes, at least, watching the ducks. You could make an afternoon of movie viewing and ice cream for sure. Or just make the shop your destination and play a few board games. From the fun colored cups the ice cream is served in to the great tasting ice cream and gelato, Ring Mountain is well worth the trip!