Murfreesboro, Arkansas

Our next adventure took us to the Crater of Diamonds State Park in Murfreesboro, Arkansas. We found out about this place on the travel channel a few years ago and digging for diamonds on my 40th birthday sounded like a fun and unique thing to do so here we are.

It wasn't any easy trip to get there. The Crater of Diamonds State Park is pretty much out in the middle of nowhere and we had to drive on some pretty narrow country roads to get there but it was worth it in the end.

The long drive gave me more time to prepare the children about what a raw diamond could look like and how they should show any rocks that look like pieces of glass to mommy (I'll regret those directions later.)

Kelly, Kaitlyn & Andrew at the diamond field, shovels at the ready.

The diamond field is 37+ acres of plowed dirt full of diamonds. Since the early 70's over 28,000 diamonds have been found there. You can keep whatever you find. The second day we were there, someone found a 1.06 carat white diamond. Unfortunately, it wasn't us.

There are three ways to look for diamonds, surface searching, digging and sifting, or sluicing. We tried all three and came away with nothing but fun memories. Let's face it, it's not everyday that we tell the kids, "Here's a shovel and an endless field of dirt, go dig some holes and get as dirty as you want."

By the end of the day, they had given up on finding the big one.

Would my shelling expertise pay off on the diamond field?

Kaitlyn was convinced that every rock she found was or could be a diamond. If Tom and I had a nickel for every time she said, "Um, Mommy...is this a diamond?" we would have had enough money to buy the Hope Diamond and still have change leftover. Bless her heart.