This past June, driving up the I-5 freeway I was (cotton-candy) bubble-gum excited because I was headed to the infamous (and instagram-famous) Museum of Ice Cream here in L.A.

The brainchild of Maryellis Bunn and Marnish Vora, the Museum of Ice Cream first opened its doors in New York City as a new art installation aimed at the millennial audience. Partnered with local businesses and enterprises such as Tinder and Dove, the MoIC met resounding success in NYC selling out tickets to their entire run in only 3 days.

The New York, Los Angeles—and now San Francisco—locations all share the same room configurations, designed by Bunn herself. When asked “why ice cream” in an interview with Forbes, Bunn stated “I love ice cream. Any day of the week it brings me so much joy.”

And on a hot Tuesday in the middle of June, it brought me and my friends just that—joy. It all started outside the actual “museum” where they have you wait for your appointment. Already the aesthetic is clear: the employees are dressed in all millennial pink (courtesy of Forever 21), the flowers in the waiting area “garden” are pink, and the walls are pink.

(My angelic friend Courtney against the pink brick wall.)

When it’s time to go into the museum, we are ushered in in small groups (about 10). To break the ice, we all share our favorite ice cream flavor. (Mine is strawberry, so naturally with the color scheme I was in love)

The first room on the interior was that of the dial telephones. Pink again, these phones hung from the walls in an old-school fashion, something rarely seen today. A harsh but blended mix of the technology of old with the current style.

(Hello? How can I direct your call?)

Next was Venice Cream, where we had our first samples.

Yes, you read me right, at the Museum of Ice Cream, you get *free* (included) ice cream! My little lactose-intolerant soul was bursting with exhilaration. Salted caramel apples, a peculiar choice for a first initiation, but the .5 ounce sample cup went by way too fast.

(The not-pictured floor also included stylized ice cream themed names of famous Hollywood stars.)

Next up was one of the swings (yes, one of! There were just so many!)

This room foreshadowed the next, having us go absolutely.

(I’m not sure what other people would do in the face of hundreds of bananas. Us? We took pictures.)

B-A-N-A-N-A-S!

At this point, it was clear that this was an art installation and less a corpulent display of the history of ice cream. Hell yes. The design of the museum was structured to allow each group as much time as they needed in each room to savor the art and take as many pictures as would satisfy their later memory. I have over 200 pictures and I still wish I could go back.

After moving through the cleverly cocoa-infused mint planetary (and receiving a mochi sandwich sampling, yum!) we entered the hall of popsicles.

(When in doubt, lick it.)

About a dozen popsicles jutted out from the wall at angles that forced you to watch your head, which is hard to do when you’re trying to figure out of these oversized hot summer day reliefs will actuallybe cold to the touch. (They weren’t).

The sherbert room also presented us with an array of photo opportunities (though at this point, it was hard not to lie down on the floor and take a photo there...which we did!)

(Rose-tinted Vogue.)

And of course, there were toppings. The next two areas, the gummy bear room (where yes, we were treated to fresh gummy bears) and the charcoal cookie dough room, both stimulated our taste buds as well as being aesthetically incredible.

(Charcoal cookie dough, good for the teeth, good for the soul.)

(Those yummy-ummy-yummy gummy bears!)

As if it couldn’t get any better, then came the room everyone waits and raves about.

THE SPRINKLE POOL

(He’s beauty, he’s grace, he’s going to be finding sprinkles in his laundry for the next 4 months!)

2 feet deep and featuring millions of sprinkles, this was the moment we were living for. The advertising that you could swim in the pool was unfortunately false...it wasn’t quite that deep (and they gave us a 10-minute time limit) BUT I stand by this was the most fun 10 minutes of an already incredible experience. Having splash battles with my friends using sprinkles??? All I could think was that this is the closest we’re gonna get to Willy Wonka's Chocolate Factory.

Unfortunately, that brought us to the end of the ice cream museum. However, we did get one more treat! Vanilla ice cream sandwiched between two pink pancakes.

(NOM.)

Clearly, you can see I enjoyed it. Before you can leave the ice cream museum, they make sure you are taken through the gift shop. I’m proud to say I am now the proud owner of an ice cream museum mug, though I’ve yet to use it for ice cream (I should remedy that, shouldn’t I?)

(Pure, frozen-in-time joy!)

The Museum of Ice Cream was one of those days that will always live in my heart not only because of the incredibleness of the place but because of those I spent it with.
So get out there and take an adventure with your friends! If you live in or near San Francisco, get tickets to the Museum of Ice Cream and live out your sweetest dreams!