Museum of Ice Cream Experience offers a bite into a fun family outing

Ready for her close-up aboard an ice cream inspired steed is Penelope Margaret Ganner at the Museum of Ice Cream. There are several in the U.S. and

Animation and old-fashioned fun are part of the attraction, here with Christene "Cookie" Meyers, right, and her niece Amarylla Ganner, on old-fashioned dial-ups.

SPRINKLES POOL, ICE CREAM MEMORABILIA, TREATS, GAMES, NOSTALGIA AND LOTS OF PINK MAKE FOR FUN FAMILY OUTING IN SEVERAL ICE CREAM MUSEUMS

STORY By CHRISTENE MEYERS

PHOTOS By BRUCE KELLER

"The Carpe Diem Kids"

James Brian Ganner is adrift in sprinkles in one of the Museum of Ice Cream stops.  It's a pool of non-edible sprinkles for kids of all ages.

A Museum of Ice Cream experience brings out the kid in children of all ages

Who likes ice cream? Apparently, people from all over the world shout, "We do! Make mine a double scoop."  So we queued up with locals and visitors from Europe and Asia for a two-hour journey into the history, mystery and fun of ice cream at the Museum of Ice Cream's colorful New York venue, in SoHo.

New Yorkers take to the fun, diving into a bouncy "pool" in one of many immersive exhibits.

THERE'S A LOT of theater in an ice cream museum. They operate in several cities across the United States and in Singapore. Plans are to open more soon. One just opened in Las Vegas and another is nearly ready for Los Angeles ice cream aficionados. There are several smaller ice cream museums around the U.S., -- not part of the same chain. So check your destination to see if there's one around.

They're great fun -- not really museums at all, but rather entertainment venues geared to family fun. From the moment you show your tickets and progress into the line, you're front and center for a bit of edible theater.

First, you must have an ice cream name. Our party of six came up with some doozies: Keller was Peppermint KK. I was Cookie Monster Mocha. The rest of our clan signed in as Mint Chocolate Chip Daddy, Apricot Amarylla, Peachy Peny and Jelly Bean James.

We took a fun family journey into the magic, mystery and joy of ice cream at the colorful venue. There's a lot of theater in these museums, from the moment you show your tickets and get in line for the first of of several interactive exhibits.

Pink is a major color at the ice cream museums, with large sculptures, all in the theme of ice cream. Here Uncle Keller, Auntie Cookie" Peny and James pause during the two-hour ice cream immersion.

The Museum of Ice Cream experience has its roots in New York where the concept was born. The Big Apple is famous for innovation and entrepreneur Maryellis Bunn is the brains behind this ambitious endeavor. She is founder of Figure8, Inc., the parent company of the Museum of Ice Cream. She pioneered the imaginative user-involved extravaganza with ice cream and candy themed exhibits, all brightly colored, in a maze of rooms containing a rock-candy cave, a unicorn, and the fabled swimming pool of rainbow sprinkles which made its way to the venue we chose. The exhibits are tailored as backdrops for selfies, and social media sites promote the exhibit. Tickets are not cheap and must be purchased in advance for specific time slots online only. There's ice cream and sweet treats all along the way.

I asked about the term "museum" and was told it was chosen because the word is time honored, something people understand, identify with and would perhaps give it a try.

One of the activities is a funny-face selfie camera that puts interesting adornments on people, here our family.

THE TREATS are plentiful as there are tasting stations along the way:  your choice of several samples.  We enjoyed peach and mint chip mochi, popsicles of several flavors, cotton candy (pink of course), delicious fruit sherbet and ice cream cones, then at the last munchy stop, hot chocolate served in an old-fashioned '50s soda shop with whipped cream topping.

The museums offer treats to cap the day, here samples of hot chocolate with cream.

ALTHOUGH these ice cream places are not teaching institutions as are typical museums. But there are nods to ice cream's history with plaques and data about ice cream and its beginning. Ice cream has a time-honored past -- dating back hundreds of years to the Chinese and Romans, who used snow to ice the mixture long before refrigeration.

The crowds are largely family-oriented -- grandparents and parents taking their kids on an outing, or great-aunties and uncles such as ourselves treating the family to a fun afternoon. Lots of pictures were taken; everyone had a cell phone. Instagram photos were in vogue.

If you go, plan to just "roll with it" and rediscover your inner child. If you do, you'll enjoy it. Boston, Chicago, Miami, New York, Las Vegas and Singapore are ready for you, and more ice cream museums are in the works.  museumoficecream.com

Balboa Park in San Diego is a beloved urban park -- one of America's largest. It offers museums, a zoo, gardens, eateries, fountains and walking paths to attract international visitors and devoted locals.

NEXT UP:  Balboa Park is a beloved urban park, one of America's largest and a tribute to the vision of its founders, who conceived of the idea more than 150 years ago. Come with us to visit this San Diego wonder, with magnificent gardens, hiking and walking paths, a theater, concert venue, buskers, food aplenty, a green belt, a veritable 17-museum mecca, and the world famous San Diego Zoo. Meanwhile, remember to explore, learn and live and catch us each week for a fresh spin on at travel, nature, family, the arts and more.