We are pretty serious about ice cream around here. We try not to keep it around all the time, since one of us (me) just can’t resist a little afternoon snack straight from the carton. Don’t even pretend like you don’t love eating it straight from the carton too, or if you genuinely don’t enjoy this blissful snack – we probably shouldn’t be friends. The only thing better than ice cream eaten straight from the carton is going out to grab an ice cream cone or a shake or a sundae or whatever. An outing for ice cream is the edible embodiment of summer that can be enjoyed year-round.

Walking around the city to enjoy ice cream is one of our favorite treats. Of course, we aren’t above going for a shake in the dead of winter, but grabbing ice cream in the summer is especially fun. This past weekend was perfect, meaning we spent the whole thing wandering our city and taking in some things we have been talking about doing all summer. One of them was walking down to Navy Yard for ice cream. We’ve been eating pretty clean at home most of the time for the past couple months, but what’s the point of eating clean if you can’t blow it from time to time? We last made this trek a couple days before Henry was born, when it was freakishly cold and rainy for May and we walked for hours trying to get labor started, taking refuge from the rain to have an ice cream cone. This time it was warm and we ate our ice cream and then wandered the waterfront. There was a local band given a concert and kids playing in the splash pad.We pre-gamed dinner with ice cream (not the first time!) and it felt like the perfect activity for late summer.

So if you are determined to continue enjoying summer, or if you just really love ice cream, here are some of our favorite spots around the District for some delectable dairy.

For a classic cone: Thomas Sweet. It’s everything old timey and delicious and is right near where James lived for two summers in Georgetown, so it makes me nostalgic.

For a shake: Good Stuff. We are loyal Good Stuff goers, and their toasted marshmallow shake will always have my heart, even if I really wish they would take a number from Burger, Tap, and Shake and have wider straws with their shakes.

For an ice cream sandwich: A Baked Joint. I am very pro this artisan ice-cream sandwich thing that is sweeping the nation. MORE PLEASE.

For a sundae: Pops Old Fashioned Ice Cream in Old Town. One time I had an amazing sundae from there… and I dropped it after two bites. I’m still distraught.

For unique flavors: Ice Cream Jubilee in Navy Yard. All the pictures in this post are from there and they truly deliver on quirky flavors.

And favorite DC ice cream spots that I missed?