I Scream, You Scream, We all Scream...

...for Ice Cream!

Summer is the perfect time to enjoy a bowl or cone full of a sweet, frozen treat (well, I like it in the middle of the winter too!).

Roanoke offers ice-cream-lovers numerous choices, each with its own specialties:

• The Homestead Creamery Ice Cream truck, which comes from a local dairy, pulled up in front of where I'm interning downtown to treat employees yesterday afternoon. Their ice cream is also served at Pop's on Memorial, around the corner from the Grandin Theater.
• Bruster's, a relatively newcomer to the area, makes its ice cream each morning. A waffle cone is huge - basically a double scoop. One of their promotions occurs every Thursday - bring your own banana and get half-off a banana split! My friend and I went there a few weeks ago, and never having had a real banana split, enjoyed every bite together. (Except my friend needs to work on her banana-cutting technique!!)
  
• When I was little, I always hoped to get free ice cream at Katie's Ice Cream and Chocolates, located on 419 (its Towers location closed earlier this year). They have typical ice cream, but also soft serve frozen yogurt, which I love swirled with chocolate and vanilla.
  
• Maggie Moo's offers rich ice cream with customized mix-ins. The flavors are endless - cheesecake with fresh strawberries, coffee with peanut butter cups, "better batter" with gummi bears, or chocolate with brownies. Everything is good - but it's so heavy that the kids size is the perfect amount (and a better price).
  

And I can't forget Harrisonburg:

• Chocolate, vanilla, and flavor-of-the-week are the only flavor choices at Kline's Dairy Bar, a historic ice cream stand in Harrisonburg that everyone seems to know about. On a nice day, it's a great walk from campus, and there are benches out front to relax on. Besides these basic creamy flavors, there is an extensive menu with milkshakes, floats, sundaes, and coffees.
  
• Jess' Quick Lunch doesn't really have ice cream - just old fashioned milkshakes served in metal cups. My sister and I loved stopping here on road trips as my parents reminisced their college days, and we sipped on frozen chocolatey deliciousness.
  

With all these choices, where is your favorite place to get ice cream, and what makes it special for you?