Crater of Diamonds Not Exactly Pay Dirt

The campground we're staying at is a U.S. Army Corps of Engineers campground, and is beautiful, especially since we have most of the park to ourselves. But pretty much everyone who lives and works here knows that if you're not from here, you're here to see
 the Crater of Diamonds nearby.

The sad waterpark.

Crater of Diamonds State Park is the world's only publicly-accessible diamond-bearing site. It's basically a big dirt field that failed as a commercial diamond mine, and so the state bought the property and turned it into a public park. You can pay few dollars to get in, and a few more to rent shovels and screens to sift through the dirt and gravel until you find a diamond.

The pups didn't find any, despite their digging.

Apparently it's a popular thing to do on Easter weekend with the kids.

It seems to be the sort of thing you have to really commit to and do often if you honestly expect to find any diamonds. The camp ranger told us someone a few days ago had found a 6-carat diamond. It turned out he had moved here because he loved digging at this park so much. I guess it paid off.

All we found was a piece of lava the size of a pea.

Lamproite - a volcanic substance only found in 15 locations on Earth.

The entrance to the failed commercial mine.