Ice Cream...Penguin Style

    Centralia, Missouri is the most kid friendly small town I have ever visited.  I am delighted my grandchildren live in such a nice, family oriented place.  About two weeks ago, Tommy and I stayed with Jacy and Logan while Tami attended a book convention in Nashville, Tenn. It was a busy, fun time for all four of us. The one name that kept coming up was "The Penguin Place". This place was mentioned every time we made plans to dine out.  Finally, on our last night there we made a trip to "The Penguin Place".  It was everything the kids said it would be and then some.

    When we walked in the store,  our eyes were bombarded with the brightest garden of colors this side of Oz...and we loved it.  After stepping inside the door,  we knew we were going to have a good time. The day had been humid and at times filled with rain, stepping inside the ice cream parlor the temperature immediately dropped by twenty degrees. I was in heaven. Tommy and I had never visited a shop like this one. The store looked, felt and smelled delicious. The four of us walked up and down the isle reading all the choices. We could also sample any ice cream for free.  We had 21 flavors of yogurt, gelato, and custard to make our combinations.  We also had 38 toppings to pick and choose. We could get one or all.  It was up to us.

 When we finished our creations, it was time to pay for our desserts.  The attendant took my bowl and weighed it. Now that was a scary thought. All the time Jacy and I had been playing with the crazy titles, the ice cream tub expanded.  The attendant weighed everyone's bowl of over flowing ice cream.  Next she figured up our bill and it came to a little over twenty five dollars.  I knew it would be expensive for four, out of this world creations, so I wasn't exactly surprised.  My face, however, must have looked surprised
because Logan whispered, "Do you want me to put back some of my gummy worms." I started laughing.  I gave him a hug and told him his gummy worms were safe, Papa and I had this and we were fine.  Logan smiled and seemed relieved. I really do not think he wanted to part with his stack of worms...but the offer was sweet.

 

 

When we sat down to eat, we began trading bites and telling the names of our ice cream choices.  One of mine was "wedding cake" and it tasted like wedding cake. We ate all sorts of exotic named ice creams. The remarkable thing was all the creations really did taste like their namesakes.                                         

We had a good time, ate too much and made some memories. The next time we are in Centralia, one of the first places we will visit is the 'Penguin Place'. It comes highly recommended by the Carters and Johnmeyers.