Crater of Diamonds, Arkansas

Crater of Diamonds State Park
Hi Ho Hi Ho - It's off diamond hunting we go...
Digging for Diamonds
Diamond Sluice
Wow - now that's a B-I-G diamond!

At one time Murray & I owned metal detectors and enjoyed our hobby of gold detecting, but we have never had the opportunity to go digging for diamonds. That is hardly surprising considering that there is only one diamond field in the world that allows the public to dig for diamonds – and it is right here in Arkansas! How amazing is that? Here at Crater of Diamonds State Park around 600 diamonds are found by the public every year. Fortunately for us, the park also has a campground (with electric & water hookups) that is connected to the diamond field via a 300 meter (.2 mile) leafy path through the woods. Bonus! We thought this was one experience we wanted to try. I contacted my daughter Kim (a geologist) to get the good oil on what to look for, and she provided well informed information.

We discovered we had 3 ways to search for diamonds today: surface hunting where you just walk along the ploughed field and look for a shining diamond, dry sift the dirt through a sieve or finally, use sieves in a wet sluice. We did the latter, although I left Murray to the sieving for a while and meandered around the fields with my trusty trowel, and had a dig here and there searching for an elusive shining diamond using the surface hunting method. For a very cheap entry fee of $6.50 per adult, you can spend from 8am-6pm hunting for diamonds to your heart’s content. Many people come back again and again, and arrive with their own tools, but the park also provides the tools of the trade (knee pad, bucket, shovel and special sieves) for a small fee. There are two sluice pavilions on the field. We couldn’t wait to fill our bucket with dirt that looked so promising. We excitedly sieved the dirt through two layered sieves as we swished them in the sluice. The diamonds are smaller and heavier than the residual rubble, so they fall through the bigger sieve to the smaller one underneath. A diamond weighing several carats may be no larger than a marble, so the smaller more commonly found diamonds are about the size of the head of a matchstick. It reminded me of our first foray into gold detecting…we went out to find our first nugget, expecting it to be the size of an egg, only to find the most commonly found ones are the size of half a fingernail! We live & learn.

Getting back to the diamond hunt...we had to keep swirling the sieve in the water at the same time as vibrating it up and down which forces the heavier diamonds to fall to the bottom of the sieve. We then upturned the sieve and voila, the diamonds should be on the top of the pile. Well, if you had a diamond in your dirt that is! We weren’t so lucky, and nor were any of those out digging today, but yesterday a half-carat diamond was found on the field. We may not have found a diamond, but we had fun trying and we enjoyed chatting with the Americans who came to try their luck. They came from all over, some from Alaska, another couple from Baton Rouge and folks from Massachusetts, Wisconsin and Missouri. We were grateful to have the opportunity to try something we had never done before. Just for fun, I went to Holly Hobby yesterday to buy some materials to make dream catchers (thanks Amanda) and I happened to see a 1 inch pink crystal in the shape of a diamond. I bought it and took it along today, planning to surprise Murray by hiding it in one of our sluices, but instead I used it as a joke with the other diggers. When they came up and asked if we had found anything, I would pull it out and first of all their eyes boggled, but then they realized it was a joke and we all laughed together. You will see my ‘diamond’ in some of the photos above – if you missed it, go back and see if you can pick it out! Tomorrow it is off to Lake Ouachita State Park and more adventures with Joe Bill & Sandy, and hopefully also get to catch up with Andrea, Jessica & Shelby.

Leaving the Ozarks

Sunflowers, Ducks and an Angel Food Cake!

Did you know that the Ozark Mountains are believed to be named from the derivative of the French "aux Arks" short for "aux Arkanasas" or 'towards Arkansas'. It could also mean 'towards arches' as there are many natural arches in the region caused by erosion. Either way, Branson Missouri was nestled right in amongst the Ozarks, and our route south to Arkansas took us through the remainder of the Ozark mountains. Mainly just undulating hills rather than lofty mountains. Parked next to us in the RV park in Branson was a family we only got to talk to the day they pulled out...they invited us to call in and visit with them at their home in Mountainview, Arkansas. Our route took us through their town, and as we were keen to get to know them a bit better and learn a bit more about life in the Ozarks, we took them up on their kind offer. We are so glad we did as they are lovely people and we had a very pleasant stay. They live in a converted barn which is now a beautiful 2 level home. The wood panelling used throughout the home was from pine and cedar that was felled from their property and then cut and treated to use in the building. The kitchen is filled with collectibles of sunflowers, corn and ducks that I tried to capture in the pictures! While I took these photos, Jim took Murray out with his Beagles to show him how the dogs hunt rabbits.

Jolene wanted us to experience a home cooked meal, so made all the fixin's of a great dinner. We had her own southern cooked chicken (which I have to say was finger lickin' good), served with white pan gravy, green beans and mashed potatoes. For dessert, she baked an angel food cake (like meringue mixed with cake mix - so light and fluffy) served with custard and fruit. Delicious.

The next morning it was time to move on, so we waved goodbye to Jolene, Jim & Tina and headed south. Although it wasn't in the plan just yet, we felt the need for some down time after 5 months on the road, plus we wanted to catch the last week of the Olympics. So rather than check into a State Park that doesn't have cable TV, we drove to Hot Springs, Arkansas which is about 50 miles SW of Little Rock, the boyhood home of Bill Clinton and Billy Bob Thornton. It is also a tourist mecca with people attracted to the natural thermal springs and the Oaklawn horse thoroughbred stud. We will leave here on Tuesday and check out some State Parks, dig for diamonds, fish and sail in the lake and re-unite with two different families. One family we met last year during a tour of the Kentucky Horse Park and the other family are Americans whose husband was on a 12 month Officer course with me in Aus in 1999 and who we have seen regularly since then. Unfortunately my course colleague is currrently serving in Iraq at the moment and cannot join his family with us, but he remains in our thoughts and prayers.

Last Days in Branson

The weather has been excellent during our 5 night stay here in Branson - fine, sunny days, but not too hot. No rain and NO wind! Meanwhile Hurricane Fay is pounding Florida Keys. At 5pm yesterday we attended one of Dolly Parton's Dixie Stampede (the other two are at Pidgeon Forge, Tennessee and Myrtle Beach, South Carolina). We got there an hour early (seems as though everyone else had the same idea) and were thrilled to find they had parking areas for RV's which were right in front making our getaway so easy. We were the only RV in the car park.

The Stampede is a 2 hr dinner show which was very entertaining and very American -throughout the dinner there is staged rivalry between the North & South (Civil War) and lots of red, white & blue flashing lights and costumes at the end. I am interested to see Australia's version (Australian Outback Spectacular) on the Gold Coast to see if it is similarly patriotic. There were entertaining piglet races and also ostrich races with riders and at one stage longhorn cattle were in the arena - I mean, really long, longhorns! Amazing creatures. The meal was tasty started with warm mildly cheese/garlic scones (called biscuits over here) served with creamy vegetable soup, then a whole small rotisserie chicken (like a spatchcock) served with a thick slice of herb baked potato and 1/3 corn on the cob plus a thick slice of roast pork loin. Dessert was a yummy puff pastry apple triangle. Your choice of coffee, pepsi, water and iced tea was continuously topped up. The way the serving staff deliver the food and beverages is very efficient. One whole row of 34 people is served in no time. There are no cutlery to use - you just drink the soup from the small ramekin, and pull the chicken apart and eat. They provide refresh towels and serviettes to clean up afterwards thanks goodness! The room holds 1000 people and it was close to 100% capacity. Dolly Parton doesn't make a personal appearance, but she is shown on a big screen doing a thank you speech at the end. Very enjoyable evening, but sadly no cameras were allowed, so I have no photos of the colourful entertainment.

This evening we attended Clay Cooper's Country Music Express show. I was able to get a small video clip of his show which was very entertaining to say the least. We had centre front row seats which was great. We enjoyed our Branson visit so much we figure we will need to come back again next year and check out some other shows. I hope you enjoy the video...
Clay Cooper Theatre Show

Silver Dollar City, Branson MO

Turkey Leg Lunch
Christmas Shop
Fish House on the Lake

DAY ONE

Silver Dollar City (SDC) is a theme park at the site of one of Branson's earliest attractions, the Marvel Mine, which is the oldest operating tourist attraction in the Ozarks. SDC is considered one of the most successful theme parks in America so we figured we would spend two days taking in the shows and variety of entertainment. They have country & western shows, saloon follies, magicians, musicians, gospel music and lots more. There are numerous car parks with shuttles to take you to the main entrance. You pay one price that gets you in the gate and all the shows and rides are free. On the first day, we got there just before lunch time, so the first task was to hunt down the place that we knew sold roast Turkey legs. Fortunately it was close to the entrance, so Murray bought one of those, while from a stall next door, I ordered a stir fry of chicken, okra, red & green capsicums, onions and sweet corn. Very tasty. We ambled around for the next 5 hrs taking in music shows, a train ride, observing a glass blower making a delicate pink angel, watching people around us and wandering through gift shops. One final pleasure I had was to be left alone in a Christmas Shop to simply enjoy the surroundings. I swear that all the people visiting that shop walked around with a smile on their face - you can't help it when you are surrounded by beautiful Christmas things and Elvis Presley Christmas carols are played in the sound system. We drove back to the Landing and finished off the day by having dinner in a restaurant advertised as a 'World Famous Fish House'. It was very conveniently located right on the Lake just down from our RV park. We then walked back to our RV, plum tuckered out but ready to do it all again tomorrow.

DAY TWO

Ladies of the Follies

Today was another stunning mild summer's day here in Missouri. We went back to Silver Dollar City to catch some rides and shows that we didn't get around to seeing yesterday. First of all we moved to an RV park not far from SDC and jumped on a shuttle. Our first bit of entertainment was a group of mountain men playing mountain music on the front porch of their mountain home. I was able to catch a bit of it on my camera video, so turn on your sound and press the arrow to hear some genuine, mountain music. After that we visited the Saloon where we saw the saucy ladies of the "Follies" up dancing on the saloon counter. We then caught a few rides including tea cups, riding boats through a flooded mine and a flying elephants ride. Our SDC finale was a 1.5 hr outdoor theatre production of Great American Country by the Silver Dollar Singers. They were fabulous. Check them out for yourselves in the short video clip below.

Mountain Music Jam (Press Arrow)

Great American Country Music (Press Arrow)

Branson, Missouri: Day One

Above & Below: Water, Fire, Light & Music Display
Walking towards 'The Landing' on Lake Taneycomo

Village Square Nightime (above) Daytime (below)

If you aren't an American, you may not have heard of Branson, Missouri. If you are an American, you would probably have heard of it, but may not have yet visited this amazing city. It is located about 4 hrs drive south of Kansas City, in the Ozark mountains on the banks of Lake Taneycomo. In 1991 Branson was relatively unknown until it showcased on TV's '60 Minutes' as a place that attracted high profile theatres and shows and country & western artists. Since then, the local population of 7000 people is inundated by 8 million tourists a year. Considered a family version of Las Vegas - it has its own 'strip' with over 50 theatres, more than 100 shows a day, great restaurants, museums, shopping outlets, 12 championship golf courses, rides and entertainment for kids and so much more. Even the lightposts have music piped from them to entertain you as you stroll along the boardwalk on the lake's edge. As we strolled around we commented that it seems to be a great place for all ages to enjoy - kids up to grandparents. Seems to be popular for honeymooners too. Our first night here is a Friday night and we haven't made it to the 'strip' yet, but the Landing was really humming; the shops were open until 9pm and all the people we came across were very friendly. Friends of ours have told us they have friends and family who return to Branson year after year, and many Americans include a visit to Branson on their wish list.

Our RV park (first 2 nights) is right on Lake Taneycomo and just a short walk to the new Landing shopping and restaurant complex where every 15 minutes pyrotechnic displays combining water, light, fire and music entertain the crowds in the village square. We sat there and ate a Ben & Jerry's icecream and absorbed the aura. Can't wait to explore more tomorrow....

Four States: Four Hours

Rows & Rows of Corn
Omaha Nebraska Icecream Stop

No, we weren't at Four Corners, USA, but we did get to be in four different US states today. We left Minnesota and crossed into South Dakota where the corn fields looked amazing. Then into Iowa and still acres and acres of corn fields followed the roads. By the time we crossed the Missouri River into Nebraska it was getting quite hot (30C/86F) and we put the dash aircon on which is a rare occurrence. We were entering into Omaha on Hwy 75 from the north when Murray said we would stop at the first icecream store we saw and blow me down if he didn't immediately see one and he slowed down to go back around the block. I must admit it turned out to be the less classier end of town, but even so, we were surprised to see that the road one block back and parallel to the main hwy was a dirt road. The icecream shop was a drive through and had windows at each corner, which allows for either cars or pedestrians to place an order. We needed to peruse the unfamiliar menu, so parked the RV and wandered over to the small building. We bought a cone with a 3" head of icecream dipped in chocolate and nuts for $1.45. Cheap but yummy. There are so many businesses that operate out of such a small building...we often see a drive through coffee stop which is just like a one room building in the middle of a vacant area. Cars just drive in and get their donuts and coffee and keep driving.

Anyway, as we continued on our way, the streets and houses improved and Omaha ended up being much bigger than we expected. It is actually the largest city in Nebraska and has a population of 430,000. The name Omaha means 'Gateway to the West' as it was a very important hub for US transportation in the mid 1800's. Off to Kansas City, Missouri tomorrow, but for now, its back to watching the Olympics. Aussie, Aussie, Aussie, oi, oi, oi!

Pipestone, Minnesota

The Calumet Inn
Pipestone Indian Peacepipe
Typical House With No Fence

After we left Betty at her cabin yesterday, we had a 5 hr drive south to our current location in the south west corner of the state. We drove past numerous lakes which makes sense considering that Minnesota is famous for the number of its lakes. We are now in the small town of Pipestone which is renowned for native Sioux quartzite quarries in this area. Most of the buildings in the town centre are built using a distinctive local quartzite stone. One example is the Calumet Inn (pictured) which was built in 1888 and at the time it was known as the 'finest hotel in Southwestern Minnesota'. It has been such a glorious day here (24C/75F) that we decided to ride our bikes the 7 blocks from our campground into town, and had dinner at the Inn. Near our campground is the Pipestone National Monument where an active quarry still operates and only American Indians are entitled to quarry the stone from which they craft peacepipes and other carvings.

The third photo I have included shows you a nice house in this town, and like most American homes, it has no fence. You see fences out in the country to mark off fields and property boundaries, but most houses we see as we are driving around do not have any front fences. From our experience, most dogs live and sleep inside the family home, so that may explain the lack of fences.

USA Fauna

Baby Fawns in ArkansasNorthern Pike Caught in Canada
New Baby Calf on Prairie Clover Ranch

Keeping our RV travel website updated is a pleasant task, but what is even better, is when folks we meet on the way email us to say they enjoy reading about our travels. Some of them have sent us photos, and I decided I would post them to share with you. Keep 'em coming folks!

The first photo of the deer fawns was sent from Joe-Bill who we met with his wife Sandy last year in Kentucky. They live in Arkansas and we have planned to visit with them at the end of this month. He knows we are enjoying all the nature that the US has to offer, so he sent this delightful photo of two fawns on their property. Next is a photo sent from friends we met at Lake Audubon in North Dakota. They knew Murray was out fishing most days, so thought they would remind him of what he was missing and could fish for when he came back - the fish is a Northern Pike caught on a lake in Canada, but they are also in Lake Audubon! The final photo is one of a new calf born to a charolais cow that was on the ranch we recently stayed at in North Dakota. Clint had bought the cow in from the field to a corral near the house a week before she was due to calve so that he could keep an eye on her as it was her first calf. We watched closely for signs that she was going into labour, but no such luck while we were there. She waited until her due date which was 4 days after we left the ranch. It was a real surprise when Amanda sent the photo in an email yesterday.

Betty's Cabin: Minnesota

For those of you who don't know Betty, she is an American lady who was married to an Aussie guy- they would spend 6 months a year in Aus and 6 months in USA - bit like us really. Betty & her husband Brian sang in our church choir (Canberra) with Murray and we had planned to drop in on them during our RV travels last year. Sadly, Brian was diagnosed with pancreas cancer just before we were due to meet up with them in Minnesota. They immediately flew back to Aus for medical treatment, and from memory, he died within three months of his diagnosis. As we hadn't seen Betty since before we left Aus, it was lovely when she contacted us and suggested we visit her at her cabin in Hackensack, Minnesota. Her cabin is only an hour from the headwaters of the Mississippi River and about 3 hrs NW of Minneapolis-St Paul. The cabin is right on Big Deep Lake with woods on one side making it so lovely and tranquil.

The weather was glorious during our 3 day stay. Betty was in fine form and we took in it turns of cooking meals the other hadn't tried, and exchanging recipes. Thanks to a recipe from Avalyn, I was able to prepare a Taco Salad (ground beef, red beans, lettuce & crushed taco chips) and Betty cooked some delicious smoked pork chops which we had never tried before, and a traditional Minnesotan bratwurst, sauerkraut and molasses bean meal. Our trip to the US wouldn't be complete without having some s'mores around the campfire - takes me back to when Dick & Jan prepared them for us for the first time, back in Kentucky last year. For you aussies out there who may not have had them, the term s'mores is a contraction of 'some more' , and is a sweet treat to have around a campfire when you want 'some more' after dinner. You take two sweet dry biscuits (they use Graham crackers (pronounced Gram)) but would be nice with our malt biscuits, then they place a piece of Hershey's chocolate on one biscuit (we would use a small Cadbury's Dairy Milk). They then toast a marshmallow over the coals and when soft, sandwich it between the biscuits. The heat of the marshmallow melts the chocolate, and voila, a sweet treat.

Mississippi River Starts Here...

Mississippi River Origin, Lake Itasca, MinnesotaMississippi River: Trickle Flowing North (Above & Below)
Mississippi River Flooding in St Louis 2007
The Mighty Mississippi River in New Orleans (photo courtesy Wikimedia)

We are now in the state of Minnesota, also known as the 'Land of 10,000 Lakes'. It is here, in the North Western quadrant of this state, where the Mississippi River begins its journey at Lake Itasca. The name Mississippi apparently came from an old Indian word 'Misiziibi' which means 'great river'. The River is the second longest USA river and runs through 10 states. It is documented as being 2,552 miles (4107 km) long, travelling north for the first 63 miles (101 km) before heading east then south until its impressive end where it flows into the Gulf of Mexico 100 miles downstream from New Orleans. Although we have seen the river in several states, we can now say we have seen it at its origin here in Minnesota, where it flooded in St Louis last year, and at its terminus in New Orleans where we sat on the bank with a cocktail in hand. It is hard to believe that such a small trickle of water develops into the mighty river that measures up to a mile (1.6km) wide in some places. Over the past 7 years we have seen the Mississippi River numerous times. We have driven over it, sat beside it and flown over it, yet we have never failed to be awed by it.