CINCINNATI -- Looking for a spot to cool off with a cone? One Cincinnati man mapped out all the seasonal ice cream shops in the Tri-State, and he aims to visit over 20 before summer ends.
Dan Thoms of River Road had no idea how many local shops there were when he set out to pinpoint every seasonal ice cream joint around Interstate 275.
"I plan on visiting all of the ones in Cincinnati inside the 275 loop, so there's 22 of them," Thoms said.
A kids pastor for Vineyard Westside working with elementary schoolers, Thoms made the map to be shared and used by others planning similar ice cream pilgrimages.
"As a kid, we didn't get to go to very many ice cream shops because we didn't have much money, so when we went it was a really big treat," Thom said. "I just thought this would be a really fun summer adventure, and it gives me a good excuse to hang out with friends and family while I did it.
"Plus, I love ice cream."
Combing the internet and asking friends for recommendations, Thoms found almost 40 seasonal and pop-up ice cream shops, and he's still adding more.
"It's actually really difficult to find all of the seasonal shops, and I was surprised by how hard it was," Thoms said.
His map includes shops inside and out of the I-275 loop as well as northern Kentucky's frozen treateries.
With seven shops visited and 15 to go, Thoms' favorite frozen treat is Dairy Corner's peanut butter dipped cone.
When ice cream season ends, Thoms already has plans to map Cincy's independent chili shops. We'll have our spoons ready.
Check out this ice cream map (below) and our list of Tri-state ice cream staples.
