We All Scream for Ice Cream
Have you ever been on the beach on a hot summer day, and you just needed some ice cream. If you’re on St. George Island right now, then that probably happens every day (at least it does for Krista and I)! For the Beigles, it would not be a trip to St. George Island unless we took our annual trip to the Olde Time Soda Fountain in Apalachicola.
The Olde Time Soda Fountain is like a step back in time to the ‘40s and ‘50s. It’s complete with a gift shop full of crazy beach trinkets and signs and with swivel stools at the counter. At the Soda Fountain (located at 93 Avenue B in Apalachicola) you can get a shake, malt or a coke (or a soda or pop or whatever you call it in your part of the country. But when the Beigles cross the bridge from their vacation rental on St. George Island to Eastpoint and then from Eastpoint to Apalachicola, we always go to the Olde Time Soda Fountain for the ice cream!
The Soda Fountain serves Blue Bell ice cream. Blue Bell ice cream is synonymous (at least to me) with ice cream in the South. The Soda Fountain typically has between 15-20 varieties of Blue Bell ranging from cookie dough to mint chocolate chip, from homemade vanilla to rainbow sherbet. Like any other ice cream shop, you can have your ice cream in a cake cone, sugar cone, waffle cone or in a cup. While you eat your ice cream make sure you take a look around the gift shop where you can all kinds of souvenirs, including a lot of beach themed items.
Before we leave the Olde Time Soda Fountain, we have a tradition that we always take a picture of the dads and the babies on the bench outside of the store front. We’ve done it for 8 years, and I’m pretty sure it’s going to continue on. It’s not “Three men and a baby” anymore, now we’re up to five babies, and it's getting harder every year to get a good picture!
Did you know that the Olde Time Soda Fountain opened in 1905? Next time you’re on your St. George Island beach vacation make sure you take a step back in time, enjoy some ice cream and take the 15-minute drive to the Olde Time Soda Fountain in Apalachicola.
