Living in Columbus, Ohio gives us the wonderful opportunity to easily visit loads of places within just an hour or two. A fan favorite is the Velvet Ice Cream factory, which we’ll get to later.
Before we stuffed ourselves full of Velvet Ice Cream in Utica, we visited the annual Delaware Arts Festival.
We live about 15 minutes from the adorable little town of Delaware, Ohio so we visit there pretty often. But, we made a special trip for their weekend long Delaware Arts Festival to check out some local artists and get some snacks. The local bakery, Fresh Start Cafe seriously has the most amazing baked goods like this pepperoni roll. I will make any excuse to go here.
To be totally honest, this was kind of an impromptu trip! We wanted to visit the Delaware Arts Festival and then just planned to go home or maybe make a trip to Costco.
But, I was on vacation from my non-blog life and was feeling spontaneous so we kept driving!
The Beard is always up for a road trip, especially one that involves nature so he was pretty surprised when I agreed to venture outside the city limits with no plan. He knows a lot of our parks across Ohio fairly well since he photographs them over at Joel Lewis Photo.
After we checked out the Pleasant Hill Dam, we wandered around the Mohican area and stopped at Honey Run Waterfall. There is tons of parking and a little picnic area if you bring a packed lunch with you. It’s definitely not stroller friendly though so I would leave that in the if you bring a baby or toddler with you.
The waterfall area is super approachable and fairly shallow. But, if your kiddo is like ours, bring some extra clothes just in case they decide to get a little wet.
Alternatively, there is also a river/creek area that had some lovely kayakers on it. Baby O tried to jump in because she’s rebellious.
After all that nature, some ice cream was definitely needed in our lives. Honey Run Waterfall is in Howard, Ohio and the Velvet Ice Cream Factory is just about 20 miles away in Utica, Ohio. I mean hello, how beautiful is this spot? We visited on such a beautiful day!
I’ve been visiting the Velvet Ice Cream Factory since I was in elementary school. In third grade, we actually had pen pals from another elementary school in Ohio and had a field trip to meet them here! How cute, right?
Velvet’s Ye Olde Mill has been a destination serving up delicious ice cream, food and memories since 1970! But, Velvet Ice Cream has actually been around since 1910, over 100 years. Wow!
You can even visit Ye Olde Mill for family reunions, weddings and more. Bonus, they have some super cute horses if you feel like going on a carriage ride.
There is a huge outdoor area with a playground for kiddos to enjoy after they scarf down their ice cream. If they are anything like Baby O, they will happily run around in circles after the sugar rush.
Right when you pull into Ye Olde Mill at the Velvet Ice Cream Factory, there is this adorable little pond. You can actually fish here as long as you catch and release the fish. If your little one loves animals, there are usually some ducks wandering around too!
After you do a little wandering around outside, you can head indoors for a self-lead tour to learn more about the history of Velvet Ice Cream. There are some really fun little facts and ice cream bits of knowledge in this room near the gift shop. If you want to visit the actual factory, they also host free public tours on weekdays from 11am-3pm, May 31st through October 31st.
If you have more than 20 people, you can call 800-589-5000 to schedule a time for your party!
If you do take a self-guided tour, you can take a super cool family selfie like us. Then, you should toss it on instagram and tag us and Velvet Ice Cream Factory.
Enough nature and learning, now for the ice cream! Velvet ice cream has SO many amazing flavors. I’ve always been a Moose Tracks fan but also loveeee their pure cinnamon flavor. I mean, honestly you cannot go wrong with any option at Velvet Ice Cream.
The wonderful thing about being an Ohioan is that you can even pick up a quart at your local grocery store. Find our where to get your favorite flavor right here.
Uh, also I just learned that you can rent their push cart for your next event! Say what? I know what we are having at O’s second birthday party.
I promised myself I wasn’t going to get Moose Tracks this time, so instead I got Extreme Moose Tracks.. LOL. I should say that I actually shared this giant scoop of ice cream with Baby O. She was a chocolate monster after this delicious treat. The summertime peach was also calling my name but we decided to grab that one at home to whip up a recipe!
The Beard opted for the Turtle Trails in a sugar cone. Also, I need you all to tell me in the comments if you are a cone or cup eater. I’m a total cup person because I don’t want to lose any of it when it drips. The Beard always gets a cone but on these summery days, a backup cup is required.
Have you been to the Velvet Ice Cream Factory yet? What is your favorite part? Tell us in the comments below!
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