R and J in the USA

Ice cream is delicious. I think we can all agree on that. 

Well, at Stella’s Ice Cream in Boise, Idaho, they absolutely knew that and were ready to flaunt the heck out of it. This was the closest ice cream shop we found when Julie got a craving for ice cream and searched out dairy free options. Little did we know we were stepping into a National Award winning ice creamery that put out a new flavor every week and had as many dairy free flavor options as dairy bound flavor options, so both Ryan and Julie were equally happy in making their selections.

They had the standard flavors of chocolate, vanilla, mint chocolate chip, cookies n’ cream, and salted caramel. Could they really run an ice cream shop without ‘em?

But they also had one called Blue Moon, one named Cake Better, and a delicious concoction whose name Julie forgets but whose flavor she can still taste in her mouth with Lavender and Blueberry mixed together in all their purply goodness.

They make a new flavor every week, and it’s all made from scratch. Julie got one of the Lavender Blueberry scoops and a scoop of her favorite, Mint Chocolate Chip. Life is best when there is a mixture of the new and exciting with the old and familiar. 

When we got to the checkout we struck up a conversation with the girl ringing us up. She looked to be no older than 22 and might have been young enough to still be in high school. We don’t know her exact age, only that she was at that age where the call for the new flavors of life is strong. We went on about how much we loved Boise, it being our first time here – how fun the city was and how enticing the surroundings were. We could tell we were swimming upstream in her eyes with our enthusiasm about the city.

“Yeah, there are a lot of things to do here, but once you do them all, it gets kind of boring.” She said with that teenage angst mixed with the friendliness of good customer service.

”Did you grow up here?” we asked.

She did.

”Ah, yes,” Julie said. “When you grow up in a place, no matter how neat it is, you just gotta get outta there at some point and see what the world has to offer.”

The girl nodded in agreement and we could tell the desire for new adventures and new flavors was strong with this young Padawan.

We clearly were feeling some similar things. At least Julie had been, as the major impetus for this 50 states trip came from her (Ryan having done many of his travels across the country 20 years prior). We certainly could understand the desire to see new places as we marveled at Boise through the eyes of discovery and intrigue of newcomers. 

We dove into our delicious ice cream, filled with new flavors and old alike, and wished the young lady well whenever she decided to venture out in search of her own.