July 10, 2021 : Crater of Diamond AR

To the diamond mine!! Crater of Diamond is this unique state park that is the only public diamond mine supposedly in the world. Multiple diamonds are found every months. It has some interesting hosiery - an older volcano crater, when it was discovered it co rained a high level of diamonds, the US government came and took the top 10 feet or so of soil and what they found was never officially logged anywhere public (at least that’s how the story goes!) 

You get your mining equipment of two screens for sifting, a shovel, and a bucket and it’s off to the giant tilled dirt fields. 

Once you get a bunch of dirt, then it’s to the water troughs to sift through it all! 

So I know everyone wants to know… what did we find?!?!

I’ll tell you… lots of beautiful rocks, an “ice chrystal”, and lots of fun! Now the designers at Crater of Diamonds were smart! They knew the allure of dining diamonds was exciting for kids, but hours in the sun and sifting would quickly make them tired and hot… so they added a water park!

Richard and the older two bikes over and played for a couple hours while Elizabeth and Laura relaxed (and worked) at the campsite. Jocelyn’s mom joined us early evening and we headed into town to find pizza (kids request!) We found this odd place, but the kids declared it the best pizza ever! 

Tonight there was a big storm… which means increases chance of finding diamonds tomorrow!