Essential Arkansas - October 20 - 28, 2019

Sunday, Oct 20 - I traveled via United Airlines from Portland, OR to Little Rock, AK via Denver.  I arrived at Little Rock about 2:00PM,  I called the Doubletree Hotel to get a shuttle ride.  I checked into Room 510.  I showered, took a nap and had a light dinner of quesadillas with sour cream and salsa in my room.

Monday, Oct 21 - It was a Dark and Stormy Night.  After breakfast at the hotel I took the hotel shuttle to the Arkansas State Capital.  I did the "A Walk on the Hill" Virtual cache which involves a tour of four monuments on the grounds of the Capitol.  I got a ham and cheese sandwich with pickle, potato chips and a cookie at the Capital cafe.  I took the shuttle back to the hotel.  After I ate lunch in my room I went to the Road Scholar Orientation.  We had an Overview of Arkansas Presentation.  We had a catered welcome dinner.

Tuesday, Oct 22 - After breakfast we had a Presentation of Bill Clinton's Rise to Power.  We met in the lobby to walk to the trolley stop.  We traveled to the William J. Clinton Presidential Library.  We had lunch at Cafe 42 Clinton Library.  We had free time so I looked at more exhibits at the Clinton Library and then took a short walk along the Arkansas River to find the Geocache.  I traveled via Trolley back to the hotel.  We went next door to the Old State House for a brief presentation.  We had a group dinner at Samantha's Tap Room.

Wednesday, Oct 23 - After breakfast in the first floor buffet area we bought our luggage to the bus.  We stopped by Little Rock Central High Visitor Center.  We had a picnic lunch at Petit Jean State Park.  We departed for the Rockefeller Institute and Petit Jean Overlook.  I found a geocache at Stout's Point/Petit Jean Overlook.  

We departed for Rogers/Bentonville located in northwest Arkansas about 2:15PM.  We checked in the Holiday Inn & Suites Rogers.  My room was totally unacceptable.  It smelled heavily of Windex or some type of cleaner.  Back at the front desk I was told the hotel was completely booked and the rooms assigned.  I told them that the rooms are NOT assigned until people check in so there had to be a room available.  I was given a suite on the 6th floor.  The service elevator was right across the hall so I used it during my stay.  Quite convenient.  We had catered dinner at the hotel. 

Thursday, Oct 24 - I had breakfast in the first floor restaurant.  We had a video about Crystal Bridges in the hotel meeting room.  The bus departed for Crystal Bridges.  We walked the 0.5 mile Art Trail in the rain.  I found the Geocache: A Crystal Cache: Arkansas Quartz at Crystal Bridges.  I was impresses by the Bachman-Wilson FLW Usonian House.  However I was not impressed with the Crystal Bridges architecture.  Crystal Bridges was designed by internationally renowned architect Moshe Safdie, who envisioned a building that would complement the surrounding Ozark landscape.  However the buildings look like giant armadillos crossing the ravine.  I ate lunch at Eleven housed in the Crystal Bridges Museum.  I had toasted cheese sandwich and a cup of soup with a side of house made chips. 

Crystal Bridges was a major and lavishly funded addition to the landscape of American museums when it opened in 2011. To the consternation of museums around the world, the curators and advisers who helped establish Crystal Bridges had bought up a significant collection of American art, including prized pieces from the colonial era and the 19th century. With a seemingly bottomless supply of money from the Walton Family Foundation, they acquired essential works, such as Asher B. Durand’s 1849 “Kindred Spirits” (from the New York Public Library for a reported $35 million) along with paintings by Thomas Moran, Frederic Edwin Church, Thomas Cole and other 19th-century painters.

Items in the collection (including buyer's premium) that I liked were:

·        Green River, Wyoming by Thomas Moran, purchased 5 December 2002 for $2.9245 million

·        George Washington (The Constable-Hamilton Portrait) by Gilbert Stuart purchased 30 November 2005 for $8.136 million

·        Winter Scene in Brooklyn by Francis Guy, purchased 30 November 2005 for $1.024 million

·        The Lantern Bearers by Maxfield Parrish, purchased 25 May 2006 for $4.272 million

·        Jimson Weed/White Flower No. 1 by Georgia O'Keeffe, purchased 20 November 2014 for $44.405 million 

I especially liked Asher Brown Durand "Kindred Spirits".  I also liked Francis Guy "Winter Scene in Brooklyn", Alfred Henry Maurer "Jeanne", John Singleton Copley "Sra. Theodore Atkinson Jr." and Arthur Fitzwilliam Tait "A Tight Fix--Bear Hunting, Early Winter".

I caught the first bus pickup to Bentonville Town Square where I did a Virtual Cache - Son of the South.  I walked across the street to briefly visit Sam Walton's original store, Walton's 5-10.  It hosts the Wal-Mart Museum.  I rode the bus back to the Holiday Inn.

Friday, Oct. 25 - After breakfast we brought our luggage to the bus.  We departed the hotel about 8:00AM.  We stopped at Thorncrown Chapel, architect E. Fay Jones.  He was an apprentice to Frank Lloyd Wright.  The group rode the Eureka Springs Tram on a rainy, cold, windy day. It was a narrated tram ride through historic Eureka Springs.  I stayed in the warm bus.  We departed Eureka Springs about 11:00. 

We had lunch at DeVito's at Harrison.  We departed about 1:00 for the Ozark Folk Center at Dry Creek.  I got my room key about 4:30pm.  I rode the shuttle to my room in a cabin located in a wooded setting.  I rode the shuttle back to the Skillet Restaurant.  The group went to the live music show but I went back to my room.  Early to bed.

Saturday, Oct. 26 - I took my luggage up the hill and hid it in the soda pop/ice machine room.  I rode the shuttle to the Skillet Restaurant for breakfast.  Story Teller presentation.  At 9:45AM I brought my suitcase from the soda pop/ice machine room to the bus.  The bus departed about 10:15.  We had a Buffet Lunch at the Red Apple Inn at Heber Springs.  At 12:30PM we departed for Little Rock.

We had a Guided Tour of the Arkansas State Capital in Little Rock.  We took a guided tour of the residential historic district.  We checked into the Doubletree Hotel Little Rock about 4:30.  I had Room 1006 on the Hilton Honors floor with a great view of the city.  I found the geocache - The Buck Stops Here.  I had a glass of wine at the hotel Lounge and then purchased Chicken Quesadillas with avocado to take back to my room for dinner.

Sunday, Oct 27 - After breakfast we departed for Hot Springs.  We stopped at Garvan Woodlawn Gardens.  It was too cold and damp to walk around.  About 11:30AM we departed for Bath House Row.  I did an Earthcache - Hot Springs Water.  I had a delicious lunch at the Copper Penny Bar & Grill and bowl with three kinds of Ice Cream at the Sweet Shoppe.  At 3:30 the bus departed for Little Rock.  We had a Farewell Dinner at Bones Chophouse. 

Monday, Oct 28 - I had to reroute my flight through Houston, Texas as Denver had a massive snow storm.  Argh.  I really wanted to do the Earthcache in the Denver Airport.  I arrived home about 2:30.  I rode the MAX Light Rail to Delta Park and transferred to buses to take me within a couple blocks of my house all for $1.50!  Arkansas was an interesting trip but it was good to be home.