June 2019 by Regina M.
You may be asking yourself why? Why is Regina M rating this particular XtraMart, right off the I-84, a "yay, I'm a fan"? What is so special about this particular XtraMart over all other gas stations that she is a fan? It is, after all, just gas. The answer, dear friends is this: They have soft serve ice cream. Even better, it's serve-yourself soft serve ice cream. As in, you walk up to the machine, grab a cone, waffle cone or cup, choose your flavors from vanilla, chocolate or twist, and fill that container as much as you want. I love soft serve ice cream. Especially when driving from Boston to Philadelphia, stuck in traffic, needing gas and being generally crabby, there is nothing like decent soft serve ice cream to brighten the day. We were bush tired, already, having taken an extraordinarily long time getting out of Massachusetts. As I got out of the car at the pump, I saw a sign. "We have Soft Serve!". I actually let out a happy squeal of delight to see this sign. I go skipping into the station building while Lion filled the tank. At first, I didn't see the soft serve. Could it have been a lie? An old ad that hadn't been taken down? Circulating amongst cases of drinks and aisles of snacks, I felt despair. Why, cruel world, why would you do this? Then, over by the serve-your-own-hot dogs was the machine. Serve yourself. Priced by the container. YES! I chose a waffle cone and filled it right up. Mmm. It was pretty good soft serve too, not super-grainy like you get sometimes at the all-you-can-eat-buffets. Nice, smooth, not overly sweet. Aahh. I convince Lion to get a cone too, and he agreed, it was pretty good soft serve, especially for a gas station in a rural area right off an interstate. The attendant was pretty deadpan, he did not find my dance of joy over the marvel of soft serve at an otherwise unremarkable gas station entertaining. I believe he's seen that dance too often, jaded by the displays of utter happiness over and over and over again done by weary travelers. Or, he could have just been hung over. If I were to make this drive again, this Xtra Mart is most definitely on my must-stop list. If you have to ask why, well, you need to read the whole review and not just skip to the bottom.