35 Great Things About Summer in Orange County

1. BALBOA BARS

The cousins are in town from Iowa. They've already done the Mouse, Knott's and the Boom Boom Room. You're on the spot to come up with another tourist trap. "Let's go to the beach," you say. After lathering up with sunscreen and dressing as a tourist lest any locals recognize you, you're off to the Pen—or what the maps refer to as the Balboa Peninsula. While you're zoning out in the Fun Zone, the blinding amalgam of sweat and sunscreen are about to wipe that fake smile off your grill when you spot a two-word sign that eases all your pain: "Balboa Bars." A Balboa Bar is a rectangular wedge of vanilla ice cream on a stick that's dipped into a vat of hot milk chocolate. Before the chocolate shell dries, the Balboa Barista rolls it in a bowl of your choice of chopped peanuts, chocolate sprinkles, rainbow sprinkles, gummy thingamajigs or a kitchen sink-type mixture of all these confections. Or you can have it plain. But a real Balboa Bar has chopped peanuts—period! You can also get Balboa Bars on Balboa Island, and they don't taste better anywhere else. (Matt Coker) Dad's Donut Shop & Bakery, 318 Marine Ave., Balboa Island, (949) 673-8606.