This was the highlight day for the family! If there was only ONE thing you could do in Arkansas, you have to go to Crater of Diamonds State Park! Today we explored the southwest corner of Arkansas.
Crater of Diamonds State Park
Mark and the kids were SO EXCITED about going mining for diamonds! Fun fact – this is the only place IN THE WORLD where the public can search for natural diamonds in their original volcanic source. Pretty crazy, right?! This was such a unique experience. And the kids were convinced they were going to strike it big!
We were surprised right from the beginning because the parking lot was loaded with cars! And it became very apparent that people took this very seriously! Everyone had their wagons and tools and were looking at maps and we knew we were walking into some serious business.
They have a great visitor’s center which shows you what diamonds look like naturally – as well as other gems that are found in the area. Then we rented some equipment and made our way into the field. Even that felt so unique – we weren’t in some diamond mine – but in a 37-acre plowed field. You can keep whatever you find! We learned about all the different methods of searching and got to work.
This was easily the best people watching Lydie and I had the entire trip. We found a nice, shady spot under a pavilion that no one was using, put on some music for Lydie, and we just watched for hours. It was great and the time flew by.
Diamonds here are white, brown, or yellow. But they also have amethysts, garnets, jasper, agate, quartz, and other rocks and minerals. The great thing is you can take what you find back to the visitor’s center and a guide will examine them and tell you what you’ve found.
Sadly, we didn’t find any diamonds – but it was so fun! The kids found lots of jasper, some quartz, conglomerate, sandstone, and calcite. Definitely the highlight of the trip!
President William Jefferson Clinton Birthplace Home National Historic Site
We had some lunch and drove down to Hope – the birthplace of President Bill Clinton. We thought it a little strange this site – even the park ranger I think was a little confused why this was a national park site. BUT we all learned a lot more about President Clinton and about his upbringing.
His family story is a sad tale in ways. His parents were planning on moving to Chicago when his mother was pregnant with him. His father had gone ahead to make arrangements and was driving back to Arkansas to pick her up when he was in a car accident and died three months before Bill was born. He was named after his father, William Jefferson Blythe III. Little Billy Blythe grew up in the home of his grandparents in Hope for his first four years.
“…my grandparents and my mother always made me feel I was the most important person in the world to them. Most children will make it if they have just one person who makes them feel that way. I had three.”
– President Bill Clinton
Rocky’s Corner
We drove back to Hot Springs and we were all so hungry! We ate dinner at Rocky’s Corner and ate so much Chicago-style deep dish pizza! It hit the spot!
