A Visit to the Point Ruston Waterfront

May 09, 2022

A Visit to the Point Ruston Waterfront

A scoop of Salted Caramel with a waffle cone from Ice Cream Social.

My family and I celebrated Mother's Day in Tacoma and the nearby Point Ruston. Point Ruston is located a few miles from Tacoma and has water views of South Puget Sound. It's a waterfront resort-inspired village with shopping, restaurants, a movie theater, shops, and a playground. We'd never visited before and really liked the vibe there. It reminded me of the Village at Totem Lake in Kirland. If you've never checked out these outdoor style shopping areas and are looking for places to hang out outside of Seattle, I recommend both Point Ruston and the Village at Totem Lake.

Our family wanted some ice cream, so we grabbed a spot in line at Ice Cream Social. They can get pretty busy on sunny days, so anticipate a long line. We waited in line for only about ten minutes. They opened their first shop in 2014, and then this location at Point Ruston in 2017.

Ice Cream Social sells homemade ice cream in classic flavors like chocolate and strawberry. They also have unique flavors like Almond Poppyseed and Valhalla Coffee, if you're looking for something different. Since we were going out to dinner soon after, we shared a kid's scoop of Salted Caramel in a waffle cone. I only ended up getting a few bites, but they were delicious bites. I would go back to Ice Cream Social for sure and get the same flavor!

We lucked out and the rain held off, so we walked to the waterfront park. They have a really cute boat for kids to play on. Then we checked out Guppies, a toy store filled with books, candy, toys, and gifts galore. I ended up buying a couple of books for a gift and some whimsical ice cream stickers I couldn't live without.

Parking at Point Ruston is free. Just give your license plate number to one of the stores and you get two hours of parking.