Arkansas

So Patti is a true cowgirl at heart, loving all those TV Westerns as a kid like Wyatt Earp, Palladin and Gunsmoke. She's always wanted to pan for gold so we did the next best thing- digging for diamonds in the little town of Murfreesboro, Ark at the Crater of Diamonds State Park. For a 30 dollar entrance fee and 30 dollars more for equipment ( shovels, sifting trays and wagons), you too can kneel in a dusty field and dig around in the dirt quite literally, looking for shiny objects that could be diamonds.

You take a shovel, dig some piles of dirt into a sifter and poke around with a knife or your fingers and watch hundreds of other misguided souls do the same.

Three hours later, our hands and clothes were dirty, our knees were aching and all we had to show for it were some pieces of jasper and lava rock. We found no diamonds- or did we. See Patti's facebook for her version of the event. Me, I opted for a beach chair and occasionally took a bask in the sun break.

The town itself, though, was so cute- kind of stuck in the 50's. We stayed at the Queen of Diamonds Inn; just down the street from the Yellow Diamond Inn, the King of Diamonds Motel and The Jack of Diamonds Lodge. Its a thing. Our place was a beautiful victorian place and the one local restaurant had some pretty great food. Top that off with an old country store and some interesting art gallery/gift shops and its a pretty great town. Plus, Patti fulfilled her childhood dream.

Vango Aside: I met Glen Campbell's niece at our hotel lobby. She works there and was eavesdropping while I was talking to the owner, who was complaining about forgetting things as you get older but still being able to remember all the words to a song from 40 years ago. At which I said that music is the last to go. Thats when the other woman working there chimed in to say she was Glen Campbell's niece. She recounted how he played his music almost until he died even though he couldn’t remember who his daughter was.