Have you ever had a vacation that was just epic?
When asked where she wanted to go on vacation this year, my daughter said she wanted to look for gold and diamonds. Since gold panning was way to far from our home we decided to take a trip to Murfreesboro, Arkansas, to dig for diamonds at the Crateur of Diamonds state park. Oh my goodness! Y’all! It was so hot; sweltering, melt your face off hot.
We stayed at the Daisy Motel in Kirby Arkansas, it was a little renovated motel that was part of the Self Creek Lodge on beautiful Lake Greeson. It wasn’t a 5 star motel but it was quaint and quiet and it suited our needs just fine. Our first outing was crystal mining over in Mount Ida, Arkansas. We stopping in at Crystal Seen Trading Co and spoke with the owner who was a sweet lady. She was so informative about how to mine and let us have a key to her quarry for the day and gave us directions to an artisan spring not far from her mine. On the way there we may or may not have gotten turned around a few times in the winding super narrow roads of the mountain but eventually we found our destination. My husband, daughter, son, mother, brother and I all gathered our tools and found our own little places to dig. Crystal mining is rewarding because you can easily find crystals in the dirt and laying on the ground in some places.
Day 2:
Diggin’ for diamonds=hot mess. Literally, no shade, hot sweat mixed with dirt will give you either a great loofah and skin treatment if your imaginative or a running muddy mess to wipe off your skin. My kids lasted about 20 minutes and they were done. So my mom being the sweetheart she is took them to the water park area while my hubs and brother and I dug a little more. I found a few pieces of Jasper and quartz, nothing to write home about but I was proud of my “diamonds”.
NOW, what you’ve all been waiting for the real diamond of the trip. Diamond Park Speedway between Murfreesboro and Nashville, Arkansas. It’s an old, red dirt race track filled with loud engines and nachos and fast cars. 😍😍😍 I am a true lover of fast cars and loud engines. I have a 75 Camaro at home called Black Betty that needs some serious work done to her. I try to convince my family that she’s the real deal and fast but I get picked on hard because we all know she isn’t. A girl can dream right?! Anyways, back to the real McCoy. The weather was nice and we enjoyed the first half of the races and then came intermission. A crackled speaker comes on and announces that a volunteer can come to the front of the track under the flag box to ride 5 laps in one of the cars. Should I dare? I mean it’s only been a dream of mine for forever to drive on a racetrack but since I know there is no reality in that, riding beside someone is just as good right? I glance at my brother and husband and nervously say I wanna go! They say get up there!!! I am shy sometimes so I decided this is once in a lifetime opportunity for me so I jump on down there to the flag pole. A sweet lady said, “ma’am, you wanna ride?” I tell her yes and she picks me from the crowd of volunteers. I jump down on the track and number 35 come roaring up. The driver hands me a jacket and helps me get in. We buckle me up and he hands me a neckbrace and he starts the car. It roars to life and I can’t help but smile like someone who just won the million dollar lottery. He starts off on the track and the green flag waves and it’s like the car comes alive. We drift around the curves and the car feels like it could flip any second and I’ve never felt so alive and full of adrenaline. On the last lap, he slams on his breaks and does a 360 and brings me back to the stands. That my friends is how you end a vacation. It’s how bucket list are taken care of. Now, if I can convince daddy to build a track on his land for me to play around on all will be well with my soul. 😎😜
Love and Blessings,
Les
#diamondparkspeedway #murfreesboroarkansas #crystalseentradingco
The Cajun Hippie Mama 