Joan on the Road...of Life

We ate a light breakfast and took a double long bike ride in preparation for our gourmet food adventure. About noon we headed up Highway 38 to Culver's for our first ButterBurger experience. We'd heard a lot about this special burger and we're pleased to report that it is yummy. It's called a ButterBurger because the fresh ground beef patty is seared on a very hot griddle then served on a lightly toasted and buttered bun with your choice of accoutrements. Very juicy and tasty. The nice thing is that Culver's has a wide selection of menu items including the Dairyland special frozen custard. But no custard for us here because we have another destination.

I've been coming to Leon's since I was very young...maybe 8. My Mom and Dad used to go for Sunday drives to Milwaukee, about 50 miles, just to get frozen custard at Leon's. It looks pretty much the same today. A constant stream of customers walk away licking and sighing over the thick, rich, creamy, buttery custard that is at its best in the Dairyland. I had the usual, a triple scoop vanilla cone. No fancy flavors for me, just the original.

When we would visit Illinois after our move to CA we'd take a drive with the kids up to Leon's. We've been known to buy a cooler, fill it with ice and custard to fly back to CA. It worked...but never tasted the same as when we'd stand in line to get our cone and then couldn't lick it fast enough. Leon's, rumored to be the inspiration for Arnold's in Happy Days, has lots of competition but I'm a loyal fan and enjoy the memories this place brings to mind.

I was going to fix a healthy dinner of roasted veggies and teriyaki chicken strips tonight but we're still too full from our gourmet day.