Post by broseph82 on Jun 7, 2015 22:27:58 GMT -5
Just got back (yesterday) from a 2000+ mile round trip family vacation. My phone is usually always full or near full so I dont take too many pics on trips and because I'm usually out hounding and always think "I'll take some when i get home". We rented a "larger" SUV (Chevy Tahoe) thinking it would hold all 5 of us plus our stuff (inluding camping gear and rockhounding tools). Boy were we wrong. It was either leave the camping gear or the kids and this time we chose to leave the camping gear and take the kids
.
Heres the route we took. The numbers are just the cities where we stayed and we actually drove to more places in and around these cities.
*We left our place Sunday night and arrived in Jackson, MS to stay for the night. We got up around 6:30 the next morning to start our hunt for pet-wood, but found more agate and cool rocks than the wood. Its really sandy and beachy in Mississippi and I didnt expect it at all. We stopped off an over-pass near the Bayou Pierre creek to hunt. It was sunny and really hot. We walked in the sand with our heads down until we got near the water and then the kids stopped looking and played in the water. I went down more and wasnt really finding anything too interesting. After an hour or so we called it quits so we could make it to New Orleans during daylight. Of course we tend to stop and look at places we see along the way picking up little bits here and there.
*Made it to N.O. by late evening and stayed in a hotel in the French Quarter. Went and ate at a place called Daisy Dukes down the street and had a platter that was meant for 4 people (by myself) but it was really enough food for just one person. Tuesday morning we set out to go on an air boat ride through the swamp to check out gators and swamp chickens. The tour was awesome and got to see the guide feed the gators marshmallows (aka swamp-crack). Had a real good time there. We walked around the city, rode the trolley, said "no" to pan handlers, my son got to see the 'ladies of the night' during the day, and visited the plantation homes about an hour away from downtown. On the way back we found a school that didnt allow bullet proof vests. Weird.
*Wednesday headed over to South Toledo Bend Reservoir to hunt pet wood. Didn't really find much on the LA side, but headed over to Texas and found quite a bit of smaller "craft-pieces". We spent the hole day there and it was a blast finding so many pieces of different types of wood. I even went off the edge above the water holding onto a tree root to collect what I thought was regular wood, but turned out to be petrified an lots of it. Kids had fun finding frogs after they got bored hunting wood. Headed out and stayed the night in Shreveport, LA.
All these let light through
*Thursday morning got up early and headed for the Crater of Diamonds in Arkansas. The places was busy. They even have a water park there. I never knew how big this place was until I got there. Looks like a big field that has been plowed at some point and nobody ever picked up the rocks that were left behind. Small to medium sized leaverights everywhere. Wife and daughters stayed near the front and camped out while I took my son round the property looking for bacon agate. Didnt really find any but I did find some neat looking conglomerates that seemed very stable. Wife picked out some neat rocks for me too. None of us found any diamonds (I wasnt really there for that). We only stayed about 2-3 hours and then left. It was hot and just wasnt much fun. Lots of junk rocks. We ate and headed south of Hot Springs (Arkadelphia) to stay the night.
My pudding stones
Stuff the wife found for me
*Woke up early Friday and drove through Hot Springs to the Ron Coleman mine. Very cool place. I like a place that has a lot to find, but enough to where one can be picky if they choose in what they bring home. Kids had a blast finding all sorts of quartz crystals. My girls even found a 200+lb rock that had some fatties on it. You cannot break ANY rocks there so bringing that piece home was a no-go. I have 1 pic of it, but kids took it and it doesnt show the beauty of it. It was really hot there and we bought a small canopy that we erected to keep us out of the sun when needed. They had some good prices on rough and even had a dealers room where you have to show your card to get in. Wife and I def wanna go back when its a bit cooler and its just us.
No pics of the bigger rocks with crystals. Already gave one to mother in law. Forgot phone in car so no pics of tailings pile, but it's huge!!!
After Ron Colemans we tiredly drove all the way to Memphis, TN and stayed the night.**
Saturday we slept a little bit later (like 8am) took our time during breakfast, drove about 20min to get my daughter a b-day cupcake and then checked out the CL guy's rocks at some hotel. Headed to The Pyramid that hosts the biggest Bass Pro Shop in the nation. It even has a free standing elevator that goes to the very top. Of course we went to the top. Only thick glass to stand on up there and you can see through it all the way down the pyramid. Came all the way home after that.
And ones I forgot
Pet wood covered in pyrite
Birds nests
And we also saw the red river floods and a small strip mall totally under water.
.
Heres the route we took. The numbers are just the cities where we stayed and we actually drove to more places in and around these cities.
*We left our place Sunday night and arrived in Jackson, MS to stay for the night. We got up around 6:30 the next morning to start our hunt for pet-wood, but found more agate and cool rocks than the wood. Its really sandy and beachy in Mississippi and I didnt expect it at all. We stopped off an over-pass near the Bayou Pierre creek to hunt. It was sunny and really hot. We walked in the sand with our heads down until we got near the water and then the kids stopped looking and played in the water. I went down more and wasnt really finding anything too interesting. After an hour or so we called it quits so we could make it to New Orleans during daylight. Of course we tend to stop and look at places we see along the way picking up little bits here and there.
*Made it to N.O. by late evening and stayed in a hotel in the French Quarter. Went and ate at a place called Daisy Dukes down the street and had a platter that was meant for 4 people (by myself) but it was really enough food for just one person. Tuesday morning we set out to go on an air boat ride through the swamp to check out gators and swamp chickens. The tour was awesome and got to see the guide feed the gators marshmallows (aka swamp-crack). Had a real good time there. We walked around the city, rode the trolley, said "no" to pan handlers, my son got to see the 'ladies of the night' during the day, and visited the plantation homes about an hour away from downtown. On the way back we found a school that didnt allow bullet proof vests. Weird.
*Wednesday headed over to South Toledo Bend Reservoir to hunt pet wood. Didn't really find much on the LA side, but headed over to Texas and found quite a bit of smaller "craft-pieces". We spent the hole day there and it was a blast finding so many pieces of different types of wood. I even went off the edge above the water holding onto a tree root to collect what I thought was regular wood, but turned out to be petrified an lots of it. Kids had fun finding frogs after they got bored hunting wood. Headed out and stayed the night in Shreveport, LA.
All these let light through
*Thursday morning got up early and headed for the Crater of Diamonds in Arkansas. The places was busy. They even have a water park there. I never knew how big this place was until I got there. Looks like a big field that has been plowed at some point and nobody ever picked up the rocks that were left behind. Small to medium sized leaverights everywhere. Wife and daughters stayed near the front and camped out while I took my son round the property looking for bacon agate. Didnt really find any but I did find some neat looking conglomerates that seemed very stable. Wife picked out some neat rocks for me too. None of us found any diamonds (I wasnt really there for that). We only stayed about 2-3 hours and then left. It was hot and just wasnt much fun. Lots of junk rocks. We ate and headed south of Hot Springs (Arkadelphia) to stay the night.
My pudding stones
Stuff the wife found for me
*Woke up early Friday and drove through Hot Springs to the Ron Coleman mine. Very cool place. I like a place that has a lot to find, but enough to where one can be picky if they choose in what they bring home. Kids had a blast finding all sorts of quartz crystals. My girls even found a 200+lb rock that had some fatties on it. You cannot break ANY rocks there so bringing that piece home was a no-go. I have 1 pic of it, but kids took it and it doesnt show the beauty of it. It was really hot there and we bought a small canopy that we erected to keep us out of the sun when needed. They had some good prices on rough and even had a dealers room where you have to show your card to get in. Wife and I def wanna go back when its a bit cooler and its just us.
No pics of the bigger rocks with crystals. Already gave one to mother in law. Forgot phone in car so no pics of tailings pile, but it's huge!!!
After Ron Colemans we tiredly drove all the way to Memphis, TN and stayed the night.**
Saturday we slept a little bit later (like 8am) took our time during breakfast, drove about 20min to get my daughter a b-day cupcake and then checked out the CL guy's rocks at some hotel. Headed to The Pyramid that hosts the biggest Bass Pro Shop in the nation. It even has a free standing elevator that goes to the very top. Of course we went to the top. Only thick glass to stand on up there and you can see through it all the way down the pyramid. Came all the way home after that.
And ones I forgot
Pet wood covered in pyrite
Birds nests
And we also saw the red river floods and a small strip mall totally under water.