Wegner Crystal Mines, Mt. Ida, Arkansas
5 photos in this post
50 miles north of the Crater of Diamonds State Park is the Wegner Crystal Ranch/Mines just south of Mt. Ida on Route 27. If you have children it is well worth a visit. In our opinion it was MUCH more fun than the Crater of Diamonds! Why? You are guaranteed to come away with something which is important to children. Yes, obviously the crystals are not worth very much compared to a diamond but at least you have pretty things glistening in your hands.
We stopped in at the mine yesterday morning on our way home. As we were driving there Richard made it very clear to me that he was not going to be driving on any gravel/rough roads. I assured him that this was a popular place and there was no way that the roads would be bad. (I honestly had no clue as to the condition of the roads, was just asserting my positive attitude.) The road off of 27 to the ranch was fine albeit a little windy. The parking lot was nowhere near as big as the one at Crater BUT there was room to park our long rig and drive around to get out at the end.
Wanting to get home at a decent time plus still having kids who were not 100% well we opted not to take the two hour crystal mine digging tour but went for the cheaper “Tailings” dig which is a small field that they dump crystals and dirt in. You can stay as long as you like, dig as much as you like and take home everything you find. We also purchased a pail for each child containing sand and rock crystals/minerals. Caleb and Hannah had the $5 bucket which were really fun. Lots of good sized colored stones. Caleb even had a small ruby in his! Daniel had the $15 gem bucket so the “rocks” were much smaller but he was happy. After paying for all this, the gal informed us that we had to drive to the field. Guess where it was?! Yep! Down a long field lane! Hah! Needless to say Richard drove slow but we made it.
Once the kids had done their sluicing they got busy digging and had a GREAT time. Lots of small quartz crystals to be found and then we started finding the clusters! Ooh! These were pretty. I came across this really big one. What a great science lesson! The kids spent the morning cleaning their finds and proudly displaying them in boxes.
On our way down to Arkansas we took one of the main routes. It was awful – so, so bumpy. On the way home we decided to take the more scenic route home to try and avoid all the bumps. The road conditions were definitely better which is kind of sad as the big highways should be the ones in better condition. However we did hit some steep hills which slowed us down but enjoyed the scenery. Then as we came into northern Arkansas and on into Missouri the heavens opened. We were driving through a big thunderstorm so got a free light show! Made it home around 8:30pm safe and sound!
Blessings,
Liz
Michelle
March 27, 2015 @ 9:05 am
You are in shorts? In March? That is not right!
liz
March 27, 2015 @ 5:25 pm
LOL! Yes I braved them the day before for the first time this year as it was a nice day. The day at the mines was warm too so decided to keep them on. Alas once we got home it was back to jeans! Only in the 40’s here today!