November 27, 2011—Crater of Diamonds State Park
After church this morning, we headed to Crater of Diamonds State Park in Murfreesboro, Arkansas. For months, we had been telling the girls about this cool state park at which they could mine for diamonds and other gems. The best part is that if you find them, you get to keep them.
When we arrived, we met a lady in the parking lot who was covered in mud from the knees down. She looked at us and said, “I hope you brought boots because it’s just awful out there.” Yikes! We hadn’t thought about all the rain we’d had over the previous 24 hours. The sun had also decided to hide behind the clouds, making the 49 degree day seem colder than it was.
We asked the opinion of the very nice ladies working at the visitor center. They said that it was in fact very muddy in the crater but we could buy galoshes for $9/pair in addition to the $7/person ($4/Eva) entry fee. They did let us walk out a little ways to the mine to check it out. People digging for diamonds were either in knee high boots or had plastic shopping bags rubber-banded to their shoes. Everyone was muddy. We decided to go through the museum and gift shop instead.
Crater of Diamonds is definitely worth the stop. It’s a beautiful park. The visitor center is very informative about how diamonds are formed and about the various diamonds and gems that have been found over the years at the park. We drove through the campground and found it to be the nicest state park camping area we’ve ever seen—and we’ve seen some very nice parks. Every site has a level cement pad and grilling area. The RV sites have full hook-up; including sewer. The park itself is extremely clean.
Even though we didn’t actually get to dig for gems it wasn’t a wasted trip. The historical and scientific information alone were worth the drive. We definitely want to visit this park again someday.
Crater of Diamonds State Park–http://www.craterofdiamondsstatepark.com/