Thinking about hitting this place up the end of the month . If we can find a place to stay. Anybody been to this place on a dig ? not really expecting to find any diamonds but my girlfriend likes rock and gems and such so thought it might be a fun activity .

Go to the gift shop and buy some shiny rocks while she is parking the car and plants the shiny rocks in the patch of dirt she will be digging in.

Yes, treat her like a 4 year old. Then go get her a milkshake to celebrate.

my nurse at the va was just talking it up, said they had a good time but it was muddy with recent rains.

good place to bury the engagement ring, if she finds it then it's on, doesn't find it then you are safe for a while longer.

Okie logic there.

Who lets a 4 year old park the car?

I haven't been to this one but we just did the quartz mine in Hot Springs and I'd highly recommend the following-

jeans- knees will get messed up otherwise
old shoes- will get filthy
gloves! nothing crazy even those ones with the textured grip will work
small garden trowel/shovel- helps to move dirt and usually you'll only be in a small area combing thru stuff
small bucket- put your finds
sunscreen- back of your neck is super exposed while bent over
water- you'll get into the digging and forget
move around some- makes it more fun and you don't just dig a hole in one place

Go to Sam Moon and buy the $10 fake diamond ear studs and pry the metal band off so you can drop the "diamonds" in her dig zone.

We've been there once. Didn't find anything but it was still a fun trip. Actually I still have the bucket of siftings that we haven't ever finished looking through. We stayed at a little place right down the road but it was kind of dumpy. Wouldn't stay there again. You can check out Kirby Landing Motel, it's about 30 min away on Greeson Lake.

We went two years ago. I would love to go back. Hope, AR is close and has a couple of nice hotels off I-40. I did find a nice quartz crystal. DO take a cooler on wheels with cold drinks. It can get hot and humid during the summer months. DO NOT let the gf load your wagon with all the other pretty rocks she finds. It is a long walk back to the parking lot. I stopped about halfway and unloaded the loot my wife had placed in the wagon.

I wasn't long ago there was big diamond unearthed...couple years maybe

DeGray Lake State Park is a little over an hour away and is decent / fun / safe place to stay with a restaurant, pool, beach, golf, fishing, hiking, etc. (book early)