July 14, 2025-25th at Degray

(click for today's pictures) 

I think that the rain was softly falling when we went to bed-well, actually we were up late again tonight watching a few documentaries. These were about hostile church takeovers, and honestly, they were probably more scary than a murder mystery documentary. 

We all slept well, but I did wake up super early this morning. Robby eventually had to do some work, and afterwards he went to check us in since we didn't do that yesterday. By that time I was ready, and we took a walk around this loop. If you walk to both sides of this road it is a little bit over a mile walk so that's not too bad. The weather was really nice this morning just like last night. Tonight though it was a little bit warmer, but still fairly pleasant.

We came back in and started eating breakfast and waking up Whitman. Then we headed out for today's adventure. We went to Crater of Diamonds State Park. It was just about an hour from here so it was a pleasant drive. On the way, I did see my grandfather's sister's hardware shop that I remember going into one time, and I also saw the funeral home that my grandparents briefly lived in when I was a kid. (I actually spent a few days there playing the organ for fun and playing hide and seek with Jason around the caskets that were for sale.)

Soon we were at the diamond mine. We drove around the campground first, and then we stopped at the visitor's center. We looked around there, and then went to eat our picnic lunch. Afterwards, we bought our tickets for the diamond mine.

Now Robby and I could have probably passed on this part of the trip, but we are making memories so it was digging for diamonds we went. Thankfully, it was partly cloudy so we were not miserable. We rented a bucket, shovel, a square sifter that was two parts, and a circle sifter that probably had a real name. 

We entered into the mud field, and really I was ready to turn right around. We did all have on old shoes, but there was mud and dirt everywhere. It took us a while to figure out what to do, but we eventually figured it out-well, we didn't really figure it out because we didn't walk away with a diamond though.

Keaton was done a good bit before Whitman. He had walked to another area that had flowing water and was having the time of his life. As he walked back to us, he did have to dig his shoe out of the mud and probably thought briefly that he was in quicksand. 

We did have a few keeper rocks, so when we left we had to park person tell us about them. Mostly they were jasper, an agate, something that is toothpaste, something that he called "nature's asphalt," something that was used in xrays...the kid (he was probably 16) knew his stuff, but he just zoomed through everything. If I had been prepared, I would have labeled and bagged everything so we could know what we found. 

We did have to hose off ourselves when it was time to leave. Whitman suggested that we just throw his socks away, and Robby agreed-that is how muddy he was. This place is kind of a little boy's dream. Sonic is also a little boy's dream because as soon as we did get back in the car, Whitman was reminding us about the Sonic we passed.

We did get drinks, but first we helped the local economy-we bought some salsa at one general store and fudge at another. Then it was back to Arkadelphia. While tonight's pizza was cooking at Pizza Hut, we walked through Walmart for a few minutes, and then it was back to the campground and Bentley.

Back at home, Graham took Reagan to church so she could head to camp-this is her last week of work, and she is spending it at Praiseworks. We thought about driving by and looking for her tonight, but we might another day.

We ate our supper and sat outside for a while tonight. Robby and I walked while Keaton and Whitman did their school and took showers. When I came in from the walk, I played a few rounds of Uno with Keaton and Whitman. Robby even joined for our last few rounds. 

Now we are all in our spots-Robby has turned the news on so I will read for a bit before my shower. 

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