One of the first questions I ask the rangers when we start working at a new park is “Where is the best ice cream?”  This may not be in your top ten list of questions, but I like good ice cream.  Any occasion is the perfect excuse for ice cream.  Not everyone shares this opinion.  Tom likes soft serve better than scooped ice cream.  This is one of the reasons I like to hang out with my dad.  He is always up for ice cream.  So, when I asked rangers at Fort Necessity about ice cream, they answered Brusters, and I knew I had to get there.

I googled Brusters and found out that it is a chain of ice cream stands based in Pittsburgh.  The closest one to us is in New Stanton, which is almost an hour away.  But, if we went just a little out of our way from Ligonier, it was on the way home.  After a boring, but good, lunch at Subway in Ligonier, Tom agreed to drive to Brusters in New Stanton.

The Brusters in New Stanton is owned by the daughter and son-in-law of one of our rangers.  So, I guess he had a motive for suggesting Brusters.  But there really don’t seem to be a lot of ice cream stands in the Laurel Highlands area.  The owners of this Brusters also have a big smokehouse operation and sell BBQ at the New Stanton location on the weekends.  We weren’t able to test the BBQ but the ice cream stand was open for business.

Brusters promises they will have at least 24 flavors of ice cream on hand, although the flavors change.  Ranger Mike recommended “Death by Chocolate” so I asked for that.  Unfortunately they were out of that flavor, but there were plenty more to choose from.  I finally decided on a scoop of Mint Fudge Crunch and a scoop of Chocolate Marshmallow in a waffle cup.  Tom got a chocolate milk shake.  I think milk shakes are generally boring, but they are easy for Tom to drink while he is driving.

The ice cream was delicious.  Smooth, cold, and creamy.  The Mint Fudge Crunch had ripples of chocolate fudge and krispies mixed into the mint.  Mmmmm.  The waffle cup was fresh made and smelled as wonderful as it tasted.  Tom said the shake was good, although not as good as Dairy Queen or Sonic.

It is probably a good thing we live an hour away from the closest Brusters.  Otherwise I would be tempted to visit more often than is good for me.  But now I know where to go when I want a splurge.