Rain, rain and more rain.
And muddy.
Yep, that pretty much sums up our brief stay at Crater of Diamonds State Park.
Let me back up a minute and start at the beginning. So there we were in deep slumber after a long travel day when suddenly at 3:00am I was awakened to the sound of Velcro ripping apart….WTH??? I sit bolt upright in bed and look over at William. In his sleep, he had rolled over to the edge of the bunk end, which is a basically a canvas wall "secured" by strips of Velcro. In my haste to get the camper popped up in the rain, I may or may not have adequately attached the Velcro together-oops! So there is poor William hanging by his torso with half the canvas gaping open and his legs hanging out! Yikes! So Michael grabs him safely away from the edge of the bunk end while I make sure that the Velcro is firmly attached on the outside. William was sleeping so hard that he never even woke up during the ordeal! Geez, all I wanted was one night of peaceful slumber after all the stress of going and blowing over the last few weeks. I guess that's what naps are for. Then Michael decides at day break that it is time to get up and make as much noise as humanly possible...really?? I grudgingly got up and dressed, encouraged by the thought of a steaming cup of coffee, or two or three. A little while later, the boys were up and dressed and it was time to hit the mines in search of diamonds, quartz, agate, amethyst or any other precious gems. We check in at the visitor center and get our supplies and head out to a vast rocky field where all manner of folks are bent over the earth intently digging for buried treasure and such.
We haven't trudged out more than 15 yards when our feet sink in the sludge-ick! That there is Mason's shoe which was barely recovered before it got suctioned down under the muck!
At least the boys and I had on tennis shoes-Michael not so much.
For him the experience was kind of like going duck hunting in the muck, but wearing flip flops instead of waders! Nice. So we forage out into this ancient volcanic crater a hundred yards or so to seek our fame and fortune in search of geological riches.
Just then I happen to glance up at the sky and I did not like what I saw-dark gray storm clouds. And then the low rumble of thunder in the distance.
Uh oh.
At that point, I was ready to bail on the hunt for diamonds in search of dry shelter because I knew what was coming up fast. Yes indeed, another gully washer. But unlike the night before when the heavens unleashed and we were in the comfort of our camper, now we were a hundred yards out in the middle of a muddy abyss.
So we were stuck.
We quickly headed over where you rinse your unearthed treasure (I believe the technical term is 'sluicing') under a covered pavilion and waited the worst of the storm out.
Finally it tapered off to a 'moderate drizzle' and we made a mad dash outta there-back to camp to pop down and hit the road for our next destination. Oh the rain. It just would not stop. Popping down and packing up in the rain...ahh...good times. Thank goodness for heavy duty drum liners. In case you didn't know, they make excellent ponchos in inclement weather and can protect all the stuff in the back of your truck from getting soaked....genius!
So when we left our pockets may not have been full of diamonds, but we left with great memories of our geological adventure in the rain and we can now check "digging for diamonds" off our bucket list-lol!
Until tomorrow...
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