Handmade ice cream Cape May style right off the Parkway just past the Exit Zero traffic light.

Hand cranked tasty delicious homemade ice cream at the tip of south jersey

Here's a question: where can you buy Cape May's best home made ice cream? Two weeks ago, I didn't know the answer even though I've lived here for over 6 years and consider myself an avid ice cream lover. Well, the answer is the Vanilla Bean Creamery of course, a tiny little place you never heard of, that does not advertise, that you could very well pass a thousand times driving the lanes of south jersey on the Garden State Parkway, and never even notice the little pink ice cream sign and purple building that features some of south jersey's freshest and best homemade ice cream.

I love everything about this hidden gem. It's unassuming. It's off the beaten path. And their hand cranked ice cream and unique flavor combinations are such wonderful discoveries, you'll find yourself running the menu during multiple visits.

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This is on the property of the Cape May Carriage Company, a fantastic local business that features old fashioned horse and carriage tours through historic Cape May. I did a short video interview with Beverly, the owner, where she introduces some of her star carriage pullers by name.

In this shot, I love how the clouds separated and the top one caught the setting sun pinkish hues, while the lower cloud stayed blueish if not a bit ominous.

Really good stuff | click This capemayX.com tip takes you off Cape May island, but it's so tasty we had to run it. I've always been a fan of Rita's authentic water ice. Summertime refreshment done tasty right. In August, driving towards Cape May I stopped at the Rita's on RT. 47 for a small ice to go. The ice girl inadvertently put a swirl of vanilla custard on top of my Mango, so to speak. She offered to redo the order sans custard but I said don't bother. Lucky for me because the combo was out of this world, stop you in your tracks, slow your motion down tasty good. I found out upon further inquiry that Rita's actually serves up this combo and calls it a Gelati, which is somewhat confusing since authentic Italian Gelati is another animal altogether. But who cares? I advise the right execution, requiring a tart citrus icey counterpoint (mango, lemon, orange) to the creamy smooth vanilla custard. You can also get chocolate custard but I've decided I'm a purist so only vanilla will do. For anyone with even the slightest sweet tooth, the 10 minute ride up the parkway (get off at Exit 4) to this Rita's stand will deliver a sweet reward and get you, or for sure get your kids hooked.

One thing I really enjoy about creating capemayX.com stories is peering behind the curtain of interesting topics that normally might never have crossed my field of vision. Case in point: the Monarch Butterfly Migration.

A few weeks back, during an early morning coffee and rap session with Don Merwin in his photographic studio, I asked Don about a photo (in his store) of a strange looking tree with a bark texture I'd never seen before. Don told me to look closer and I saw the bark was in fact a mosaic of thousands of Monarch butterflies in a group huddle...

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Check out the video interview at the end of the story. Cape May's best Pizza browns it's cheese in an old world style brick oven found only at the Lucky Bones Backwater Grille. CapemayX.com met with David Craig, owner and operator of this new and hotly popular Cape May spot, to learn more about their unique method and to experience the oven heat first hand.

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