Turkey Hill Experience

**This is a sponsored post written by me on behalf of Turkey Hill Dairy. All opinions are my own.**

Today we had the opportunity to participate in a blogging event at The Turkey Hill Experience in Columbia, PA. I'm always on the look out for new, family oriented things to do, so this was right up our alley!

Opened in 2011, The Turkey Hill Experience is the interactive tour experience for the 83 year old company, founded in Lancaster, PA. The Experience is housed in a beautiful reclaimed silk mill, right off interstate 83 and contains a gift shop, a historical tour, taste testing, fun games and activities, and a make your own ice cream lab.

We were asked to participate in the entire experience, then blog about our day. So, here is the run down of our fun, ice cream filled afternoon at The Turkey Hill Experience!

The tour begins on the 2nd floor with a beautiful history display of the company and the area, including a vintage milk truck that you can "drive" and the opportunity to milk virtual cows! Thankfully, there was an elevator in addition to the stairs meaning we could bring the stroller. Woo!

Then, it moves into a tasting area where you can try as many iced tea and ice cream flavors as you'd like! Nom nom nom. In true laid back Lancaster fashion, there were rocking chairs to relax in and enjoy your sweets.

There were so many flavors of iced tea that I didn't even know existed! When I thought of Turkey Hill, I thought of their standard fruit teas, but discovered a new half and half sun tea that is to die for. I had to buy a bottle of it on the way out!

Charlie and Jeff dove right into the ice cream samples. It wouldn't be Lancaster without Woopie Pie flavored something! All of the employees were so kind and patient - especially with all of the indecisive little ones running around.

The remainder of the tour was an interactive explanation of how ice cream is made. You were able to follow the creation of your ice cream from conception to the finished product; creating a custom virtual flavor, designing the packaging, and shooting a commercial. Your finished product was then emailed to you so you could share it with family and friends.

In addition to tracking your custom ice cream, there were several activities for kids to learn more about their ice cream. Explaining milk homogenization with a ball pit? Genius!

After playing in the activity area for a while, it was our turn to hit up the Taste Lab. After a brief explanation of the room, we got to creating! Each person received a pint of vanilla ice cream base with a spatula to stir. There were SO many options for flavors, mix ins, and syrups. The lab technician said that there were over 40,000 possible combinations!

Charlie chose banana and strawberry flavoring for his ice cream and Jeff chose coconut. I kept mine vanilla so I could add a ton of mix ins! And this is why.....

Holy options. There was everything! Charlie added dried blueberries and chocolate chips to his, Jeff added a ton of dried fruit and coconut to his, and I put cookie crumbles, chocolate chips, and gummy bears in mine. Mmmmmmmmm! After we added syrups, they put our creations in a flash freezer to harden them up while we learned a bit more about how ice cream is made. It was a little bit more waiting than some of the toddlers in the room were used to, but everyone did great waiting for their treat to finish up.

Overall, we had a lot of fun today visiting The Turkey Hill Experience and I'm so glad we got the opportunity go. I appreciated that it was so family friendly with several different activities for kids and adults alike. Plus, ICE CREAM! Everyone loves ice cream.

Check out The Turkey Hill Experience on their Facebook page and Twitter for more information about your visit. If you'd like to see more pictures from today's event, find us on Instagram and check out the hash tag #TurkeyHillExperience.