Recently we went on a little jaunt to Bentonville, Arkansas. Home of the Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art and a very nice urban scene going on. Bentonville is also the headquarters of Walmart and the town is growing quickly. They have lots of restaurants and other places to entertain oneself.

Redbud Tree on the city’s trails

There are tons of walking paths all over town. We stayed close to the town center so we could just park our car and walk where we needed to go.

They not only have trails they have art integrated into nature with the trails.

Very nicely maintained and landscaped.

Lots of wildflowers.

We found a very nice Italian restaurant. Great food and wonderful service. The staff probably knew we were from Oklahoma when we pulled out phones to take photos of our deserts.

And here was mine. Two scoops of ice cream and one of raspberry sorbet. Wow, it was great.

And then we walked around for a bit looking for a place to have a drink. We found a place overlooking the square.

Another shot of Heather.

I had a gimlet, I think Heather had a glass of wine. It was wonderful to find a place for a drink and then walk to our airbnb a short distance away instead of parking.

The next day we got up, had breakfast and headed to the Crystal Bridges Museum. We viewed hundreds of works of art. All of them great. Here are a few that really caught my attention.

This work of art is Robe named “Eldest Daughter” by Addie Roanhorse. It was made in 2025 using traditional Osage Ribbon Cutting techniques.

“The Good Shepherd” by Henry Ossawa Tanner in 1917. It caught my eye because we are close to Easter.

“Valley of the Catawissa in Autumn” by Thomas Moran, ca 1862. Talk about a great Skywatch Friday painting. I love Moran’s stuff.

“The Song” by William Merritt Chase, in 1907. I’ve noticed this painting on several previous visit and it really struck me this time. I always thought it was a lady with a headache. But no, she’s listening to a piano played by another woman obscured by the column. Back then you didn’t have XM Radio or iTunes so if you wanted to listen to music, somebody had to play it for you. So the woman is listening hard to the music and is really into it.

So we had a good time. We got to spend a lot of time together and see some great art.

I don’t know when we are going home. Could be a while.

Linking with Skywatch Friday