Arkansas 2024

Since I'm writing the blog after the fact, I'm starting at the beginning and working my way down date wise.

Ed and I have good friends that we met in January 2007 at Oleander Acres RV park in Mission Texas. Bob and Jean live in Bella Vista Arkansas.  We usually "drop by" when we're on a road trip to the western US or were heading home after spending a winter somewhere in the south.  It's been a while since we spent the winter in the south or have done a cross country road trip so we were overdue for a visit thus the trip to Arkansas. Now that we're back home I can say that spending two weeks in Arkansas was a good idea and we could have spent more time there. 

September 28, 2024 Driving

We only left 10 minutes late of our planned departure time ---- that's pretty good for us. Traffic was light and was good till we reached the border.  For unknow reasons we were stopped at the toll booth. I think we sat there for 5 or 10 minutes. Leaving the toll area we drove over the bridge and made it 3/4 of the way and stopped. After about half hour cars finally started going through the border crossing, again no idea why --- maybe coffee break 😁. The remainder of today's drive was good. The benefit of driving on a Saturday is that road construction crews usually take the weekend off. We stayed at a Comfort Inn in Terre Haute Indiana. 

September 29, 2024 More Driving

Another good day driving. Leaving the hotel around 7am and changing time zones meant we arrived at the Comfort Inn in Bentonville around 3pm. Once we settled in we drove over to Bella Vista (about a 20 minute drive) to see Bob and Jean. Bella Vista doesn't have any hotels thus the staying in Bentonville. Walmart's head office is in Bentonville so there were lots of hotels to choose from. It's really good to see Bob and Jean again.

September 30, 2024 Bentonville and Bella Vista 

Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art was founded by Alice Walton (Sam's daughter). The museum opened in 2011, I think we visited it within a year of it opening. There are a couple of outdoor art trails and indoor exhibits as well. The building and it's environment is also "art". Ed and I decided to see the outdoor exhibits this morning and pick up a few geocaches that are along the art trail.

Yield by Roxy Paine. 
Polished stainless steel contrasts with the landscape. 

Pig Sculpture by Louise Bourgeois

Mamam by Louise Bourgeois 

Bronze Stainless Steel and Marble

Narcissus Garden by Yayoi Kusama

Stainless Steel Spheres

Flowers That Speak All About My Heart Given to the Sky by Yayoi Kusama

Painted Bronze

A few of the outdoor exhibits have been removed due damage by "severe weather" in May of this year. According to Bob the area was hit by eight tornados on one day. Clean up of the damage created by the storms is still ongoing.

Next stop today is the Mildred B. Cooper Chapel. It was designed by E. Fay Jones and Maurice Jennings. 

It is incredibly peaceful in and around this chapel as well as an amazing piece of architecture. The chapel opened in 1988.

Looking through the chapel.

Bob and Jean.

October 1, 2024 Mount Magazine

At 2,753 feet above sea level, Mount Magazine is the highest point in Arkansas. It is know for rock climbing, hang gliding and beautiful fall colours. 

We're not into rock climbing, hang gliding and it was too early for fall colours but Bob, Jean, Ed and I decided to drive down and just enjoy the view and lunch. 

Can you guess what you are looking at. This is a hurricane proof window that was struck by a stone thrown up by a weed whacker. I loved the effect. 

Bob & Jean enjoying the view.

Jean, thanks for sharing the photo.

October 2, 2024 Hiking

Bella Vista and Bentonville are becoming well know for their multi-use trails. Some of the trails are paved and some of them go through the forest.

Ed and I opted to hike part of the 21 mile "Back Forty" trail in Bella Vista. The Back Forty is a big loop with some off shoot trails and a cross trail. I think I wanted to prove that I could still do a good long walk, so we hiked  the lower half of the Back Forty and the cross trail ---- turned out is was 20.4 km or 12.75 miles according to Ed's GPS. The Back Forty portion of the trail followed ravines with houses at the top of the hills. The cross trail passed by several golf courses. BTW there are a lot of golf courses in Bella Vista. To belong to one of the golf clubs you need to own property in Bella Vista even if it is just a "golf lot" (a lot that would be very difficult to build a house on).

This trail is used by hikers and mountain bikers. We saw several mountain bikes but no other hikers on the rough part of the trail. 

The trail took us near Lake Ann. All of the lakes in Bella Vista are private access only so it made sense that we had to bushwhack a little ways to actually see the lake.

There are lots of interesting rock formations along the trail.

This is a feature for mountain bikes --- Ed and I took the detour path. I don't think I'd ride a bike on that boardwalk.

This is a nice calm part of the trail. There were some hills with sharp drop offs to the side that I wasn't totally comfortable walking. We had just commented that we wouldn't want to be on a bike, when a guy road by and did the hill. He's a lot braver than I am. 

We saw some interesting things along the trail, like lion statues, a green alien and these two guardians of the trail.

October 3, 2024 Bentonville and the Wooden Spoon

This morning Ed and I checked out downtown Bentonville. Yup there were geocaches Ed wanted to find.

Interesting flower pot 😁

The photo looks a little off because Ed did a panoramic photo. In the small area we walked around there were a lot of murals. 

A pretty park.

Next up was a trip to the Wooden Spoon in Gentry with Bob and Jean. The Wooden Spoon is one of their favorite restaurants. The meal was excellent especially desert--- chocolate peanut butter pie😉.

Walmart is building a "new campus" in Bentonville. It is 365 acres and includes offices, a health and fitness center, a children's enrichment center, Sam Walton Hall, parking garages and even a park complete with a pond. It's going to be quite the campus when it's completed. Bella Vista and Bentonville are nice communities to live in.

October 4, 2024 Eureka Springs

Eureka Springs is about an hours drive east of Bentonville. First stop was Thorncrown Chapel. 

Thorncrown Chapel was opened in 1980 and was designed by Fay E. Jones. Yes, she was one of the architects of the Mildred B. Cooper Chapel in Bella Vista. The main difference we could see is all the lines in this chapel are straight, where the Cooper Chapel is all curves.

When we arrived in Eureka Springs we decided to park at the top of the hill at the visitors center and walk down the hill into town. We realized what a good idea that was when we saw all of corvettes driving around looking for parking or seemed to be looking for parking. It was corvette weekend in Eureka Springs ---- around a 1,000 corvettes were expected to be in town on Saturday (the day after our visit). 

Eureka Springs is built on a hill and as a result there are a lot of springs. These springs were believed to be "healing springs" with several of them claiming to have "healed" the most people. Now, Eureka Springs is an art community and tourist destination and the spring water is declared unsafe.

Lots of corvettes, some old some new and some in between.

The Art Colony

The Crescent Hotel sits at the high point of Eureka Springs. 

St. Elizabeth of Hungary Catholic Church

The Eureka Springs Carnegie library. We talked to a woman here who is an author and now head dialog writer for HBO's House of the Dragon, a spin off of Game of Thrones.  She told us that HBO approached her because they had liked her books. 

The Passion Play is performed in many places around the world. I found the stage here to be very intriguing. 

October 5, 2024 Saying Good-bye and One Last Trail

We went out for lunch with Bob and Jean and then had one last visit. It was really good to see them again and spend some time with them. 

On the way back to the hotel, we decided to stop at one of the trails not far from Bob and Jean house that they recommended --- Tanyard Creek Nature Trail. 

The suspension bridge across the creek. 

The rapids ---- or they would be if there was water. 

The creek. 

The waterfalls --- its been pretty dry so not a lot of water coming over the falls. 

October 6, 2024 Crystal Bridges and Petit Jean State Park

Our destination today is Petit Jean State Park, approximately a 3 hour drive from Bentonville. Check in time for the cabin we rented in the state park is 4pm, so we needed something to do this morning. We've checked out the outdoor displays at Crystal Bridges earlier in the week, so we decided to check out the inside of the museum, especially since viewing the permanent collection is free. 

The photo doesn't do this painting justice, but Ed loved the colours. The painting is by Kehinde Wiley.

Landscape by Robert Seldon Duncanson, 1865. Landscape depicts loggers floating rafts down what is most likely the Saint Lawrence River near Montreal.

Hooded Visorbearer by Martin Johnson Heade, ca. 1863-1864. One of sixteen hummingbird paintings. 

This string art was really hard to capture in a photo. It was high up above the landing in a stairwell and was probably missed by 90% of the people that walked up or down the stairs . I only noticed it because I saw the name plate on the wall and starting looking for the art. One of the interesting things about this piece is it looked different depending where you were standing. I have to say it was one of my favourite pieces. 

Who doesn't remember and love Rosie the Riveter by Normal Rockwell, 1943. 

Chill by Jewel, 2024. Yes, Jewel the singer. I just though this was a very interesting piece of art. Those are pill capsules inside the body. 

The building itself is also art. Ed and I stood down the hall from each other and shot our reflections in the windows. When you stood by the window you could see out. You can tell we were fascinated by this. 

Ed took a panorama of Crystal Bridges from a courtyard. 

The lodge at Petit Jean State Park over looks the valley to the west resulting in beautiful sunsets. 

October 7, 2024 First Day of Hiking, Petit Jean State Park

Ed, of course,  has a list geocaches for us to find while we are at the state park. An interesting thing about these geocaches are they are all registered and approved by the park. Frances (me) had trails picked out to hike ---- all of them!!!!😁. Luckily, there weren't too many so it was definitely doable in our time frame. 

Today we hiked the Cedar Falls Trail (should be called the Cedar Trickle Falls Trail, at least while we were there), the Canyon Trail, the north half of the Boy Scout Trail, the Rock House Trail, the north side of the Cedar Creek Trail and the CCC Hike and Bike Trail.  We hiked a bit more than 16 km or 10 miles. 

The trail, occasionally there were obstacles on the trail. 

Cedar Falls .... mmmm maybe Cedar Trickle😁

Canyon Trail. I'm not sure how they moved them but a lot of the small bridges were large flat rocks. 

Yeah!!! not a cotton mouth! This is probably a run of the mill water snake. I found that out when I searched to see which snakes lived in Arkansas. 

Stepping stones to cross the creek, there are not needed at the moment because the water is low.

On the Boy Scout Trail. Great rock overhang. 

If you look closely you can see one of the cabins that are near the lodge.

A couple of photos of the "turtle rocks". We saw turtle rocks in several places in the park but these were the "best" ones.

Rock House Trail brings you to "Rock House", a large cave. 

Looking out.

Cedar Creek Trail. More amazing rocks.

Wildlife!

A bridge built by the CCC (Civilian Conservation Corp) and a dam behind it. The CCC was part of President Franklin D. Roosevelt New Deal to help combat unemployment during the Great Depression. 

Looking past the dam.

Back at the lodge to enjoy sunset. 

October 8th, 2024 More Hiking

Today we are hiking more of the Boy Scout Trail, Bear Cave Trail and Seven Hollow Trail. To make the hike into a loop we added the canyon trail and the big hill portion of the Cedar Falls Trail. Total distance is less than yesterday's hike ---- a little under 16 km so a little under 10 miles.

A view from Boy Scout Trail

The next four photos are from Bear Cave Trail. 

Looking into the cave. 

Now, looking out of the cave.

If you look carefully you can see me standing between the two big rocks. Those rocks are big😁.

The next five photos are from Seven Hollows Trail.

The Natural Bridge

The next three photos are in the area called "the grotto".

The creek at the junction of the Boy Scout Trail and Canon Trail. 

Hiking up the big hill on the Cedar Falls Trail. 

Another beautiful sunset. 

October 9, 2024 Last Hiking Day

Today we hiked the last part of the Boy Scout Trail, the south side of the Cedar Creek Trail and repeated the CCC Hike and Bike Trail. It was a short hike today, only 12 km or 7.5 miles. I met my goal of hiking all the trails in the park and Ed almost met his goal of getting all of the geocaches in the park. Unfortunately we couldn't find three of them but we did find 29.😉

The wall of the Cedar Creek Falls look out on the Boy Scout Trail. 

Looking down at Cedar Creek Falls. 

A small waterfall on Cedar Creek Trail. 

Bridge over Cedar Creek.

An old pioneer cabin. 

There a number of cabins near the lodge that you can rent. This is one of the original stone cabins. We were in a semi-detached wood cabin that was quite nice but didn't have the ambiance of the original stone cabins. 

Another beautiful sunset.

October 10th, 2024 Beginning the Drive Home

I was really ready to leave this morning after I found a humongous spider in the bathroom ---- I really don't like spiders. It's a good thing I didn't find it at the beginning of our stay because I don't think I would have been able to sleep.

I don't know if you can actually tell what is strapped to the flat bed, but it's a kid's toy dump truck. Ed thought it was really cute. 

Our destination today is Brandenburg, KY and we stayed at a lovely Quality Inn. Tomorrow we are visiting Marengo Cave US National Monument and the Quality Inn in Brandenburg was one of the closest hotels that had good reviews. 

October 11, 2024 Marengo Cave US National Monument and More Driving

At the start of our drive this morning we ran into some pea soup fog and for some reason other drivers didn't seem to think that head lights tail lights were a good idea. Luckily, once we got away from the river the fog disappeared and lights didn't matter. 

I learned something interesting today. The status US National Landmark can be given to a building, district, object, site or structure that is officially recognized by the United States government for its outstand historical significance.  That item can be privately owned. The status helps to protect the item as well as open up funding for maintaining the item. 

We arrived at the cave just after it opened for the day and we were surprised that there were already people there waiting for tours to begin. We were able to get on the first Crystal Palace Tour of the day. It's been a number of years since we've been in a cave but I thought this one was pretty good. 

The original cave entrance was a sink hole, which has since filled in. 

Another entrance was hand dug around 1910 and this entrance was blasted.

This area of the cave is different rock hence no formations. 

In one section of the cave there is approximately 3 inches of  water. The water is so still the reflection looks like a lower part of the cave.

Old graffiti

What do you see in the shadows? A couple kissing, King Kong?

Leaving the cave we started driving North. After a while we ended up on I75 and being a Friday we ran into a lot of construction and a lot of drivers in a hurry. I guess I'm getting spoiled by the back roads of Bruce and Grey county. We stayed at a Comfort Suites in Findlay, another good hotel. 

October 12th, 2024 Home

Only five hours of driving today. It's Saturday but there still was construction on I75 through Michigan. The base of a lot of roads in Michigan is concrete, so repairs consist of cutting out large squares of concrete and pouring new concrete. 

The border crossing went smoothly and we managed to get home mid afternoon. This gave us time to unload the truck and for me to get most of the laundry done. 

It's good to be home!!!😀