Roaming Roanoke: Mill Mountain and Blue Cow Ice Cream
This blog edition features two places – Mill Mountain and Blue Cow Ice Cream!
This blog is also about how plans change and you have to roll with it! On Labor Day weekend, we set out to go to the Mill Mountain Zoo. We have not been there yet and my kids have wanted to go since they saw it when we went to the Roanoke Star! Well, so many other families had the same idea that day. We got there and the zoo was at full capacity for Covid regulations. We did not reserve spots online ahead of time and no one else could go into the zoo. #momfail
We decided not to just leave and go home. It ended up being a great day!
We walked through the Mill Mountain Wildflower Garden. My kids enjoyed it! I think we read every single sign for every plant! It was a nice stroll and educational! Afterwards, my 6-year-old and 4-year-old played and played on the slide by the parking area. They loved that it was rock-climbing on the way up and a slide on the way down! We enjoyed the lookout and view as well!
Afterwards when we left Mill Mountain, I intended to go home. However, the Blue Cow Ice Cream sign drew me in! I LOVE ICE CREAM! I have also passed this trait down to my children because all three of them love ice cream too! On an impulse, I pulled into the (very crowded) parking lot. We got ice cream inside and then ate it outside overlooking the greenway and river. It was delicious! We all devoured our scoops! It was the perfect way to end the hot day after playing on Mill Mountain!
Blue Cow Ice Cream is located on Piedmont St SE in downtown Roanoke and close to Mill Mountain. Blue Cow Ice Cream makes flavors on site using locally sourced ingredients! All of us had a chocolate flavor variety and it was great! There are many other flavors available for whatever you want! Blue Cow Ice Cream also offers curbside pick-up and delivery through GrubHub. You can check out all of the details on bluecowicecream.com.
While the Saturday did not go as originally planned, it ended up being a great day! Everyone had fun!
We do still plan to go to Mill Mountain Zoo sometime! I now know to make reservations online before we get there. We will probably get Blue Cow Ice Cream afterwards too!
If you have other suggestions and ideas for us to visit for Roaming Roanoke, please let me know! We are looking forward to all of the fall events this season!
More Roaming Roanoke
- Roaming Roanoke: Little Green Hive
- Roaming Roanoke: Mommy Time
- Roaming Roanoke: Salem Ice Cream Parlor
- Roaming Roanoke: Thomas Jefferson’s Poplar Forest
- Roaming Roanoke – Mill Mountain Zoo at the Library
