Bentonville, Arkansas. September 3, 2026

As most of you know, I don’t usually post domestic travel, but this is shaping up to be very travel-blog-ready! So, hang in I’m here in Arkansas and then headed to the Obama Center in Chicago and then a drive to Des Moines. It’s the annual “girl trip.”

After a rather miserable travel day, yesterday, I finally arrived at the Compton Hotel in Bentonville, Arkansas at about midnight! First, I was scheduled to fly on American via Phoenix, but the flight was delayed and had I taken it, I would have wound up spending the night in Phoenix, since I would have missed the connection. I quickly switched to United and got a flight that took me through Houston (not the most direct route) and landed around 10:15pm. I headed out of the airport to find a taxi… and there are no taxis (ever) at the Bentonville (NW Arkansas) Airport! No taxi stand; no waiting taxis; no phones to call taxis. And those of you who know me well, know I do not use Uber!

I went online to find three different taxis listed; the first two couldn’t come because they had been driving since 4 am and didn’t want to come out again. The third said he’d come, but he was 30 minutes away. I had little choice, so I waited. I was literally the only one at the airport (from what I could see). These are not exactly taxi companies. Seems like it’s just one driver, maybe two. Anyway, he arrived around 11 and I sat upfront so that he could point things out along the way to the hotel. I got a little lesson in Bentonville history—home of the Waltons of Walmart fame and the family that paid for Crystal Bridges Museum, which was one of the reasons for this trip. A bit funny, since I’m probably one of just a handful of Americans who have NEVER been inside a Walmarts. (And plan to keep it that way.)

The Compton Hotel is very new and quite lovely; large rooms, wood floors, greatr bathroom, all the amenities.

OK… so today we began with a light breakfast at the hotel and then headed to Crystal Bridges Museum. We drove (although it wss just a 20 minute walk) because it was about 95 degrees outside, and we figured we’d be doing a lot of walking in the museum. Wimpy? Maybe.

The Museum opened in 2011, was designed by Moshe Safdie, and was paid for by Alice Walton and the Walton family (Walmart). It has a permanent endowment, enabling it to have free admission—forever. It showcases American art and the building is beautifully integrated into the landscape. The initial endowment was $800 million which funded construction, acquisitions, and operating expenses. The endowment was supplemented with funds from Walmart which I think covers the forever free admission. The buildings are situated on a ravine and the Crystal Spring. There are 8 (I think) interconnected “pavilions” made of concrete and wood and copper for the roofs. Some of the pavilions use a sort of suspension bridge construction and they are rooted in limestone bedrock.

The collection focuses on 5 centuries of American art and includes many unrecognized or underrepresented artists and a large proportion of artists of color. The museum also houses some of the Alfred Stieglitz collection which it shares with Fisk University. (There a long story there, which I vaguely remember, but won’t get into here.) Let’s just say the building is quite spectacular and the collection and dsiplays are well thought out and prompt some good discussion. The building was expanded with a big opening of the new wing just recently. In the words of one of the volunteers at the museum, “When we expanded, all of this additional art kept coming and we all kept saying “Where did Alice store all of this stuff? Did she have art like this hanging in all of her bathrooms?”

There’s a great space for kids (actually there are many areas to participate and “make art” and one room that has all of this clay which kids and adults can add or change what has been created by other kids. When you come in they ask if you want some new clay. It’s very tempting.We chatted with the volunteer in that room and she told us she was a transplant from many different cities. Her husband was a sports doctor who worked with various teams. She had lived in NY, Boston, Jacksonville, and now Bentonville. She’s a former kindergarten teacher. She likes Bentonville and said “not to judge Arkansas by what you hear on television” although she did point out that the state is about 47th on every list (health, education, etc.) Everyone we’ve encountered has been amazingly friendly and talks about how much they love Bentonville and also that they are a bit self-conscious about coming from Arkansas.

A few points to note: Bentonville is sooo clean; you can eat off the streets. There are lots of outdoor tables and chairs and even couches with cushions and they stay out all night (and are not chained down!) We haven’t seen any homeless or anyone sleeping on the streets. I suppose if there are homeless, Alice Walton probably finds them a place to stay or “gets rid of them.”

We’ve heard that Walmart requires any of their vendors (brands that sell their products at Walmarts) to have some kind of presence in Bentonville (executives, manufacturing, etc.) So leaders from all these companies are located here in town, bringing more stature, a professional class, and money to the community. (This is not verified but told to me by my taxi driver last night.)

After a pleasant lunch at Eleven within the museum, we headed to the Frank Lloyd Wright Usonian house that sits on the museum grounds — having been moved from New Jersey to Arkansas.

The Bachman-Wilson House was origingally built in New Jersey in the 1950s. for a young couple who approached Wright and had $20,000 to build a house near a creek in NJ. I think the house fell into neglect and had flooded and in the 1980s it was acquired by the Tarantino family who then sold it to Crystal Bridges which relocated the house in its entirety to the museum’s campus. Those parts that were completely damaged were rebuilt to the exact plans of the original construction. Despite all the flood damage, most of the interior was saved. You can go inside, but no photographs are allowed.. (The one photo I have posted here was taken rather secretively and I couldn’t focus or compose the shot.. )

The walk from the museum to the house is only about 4 minutes and you walk over a bridge and into forested land. From the bridge you can see some glass sculpture by Chihiuly.

We then drove (about a mile) to the Momentary which is owned by Crystal Bridges and focuses on more contemporary art and changing exhibits. The current exhibit was by Lucy Sparrow—a felt artist who has created a complete Walmart store from the 1980s within the building… everything made of felt!

Lucy Sparrow is a contemporary British artist who works with felt and creates life-size replicas of existing objects, like the aisles and aisles of “canned” goods and other sellable things that are in the Walmart replica…. all in felt. She’s had many other shows in NY, London, LA, Australia, etc. One of her early pieces was “Madame Roxy’s Erotic Emporium” where she installed a sex shop in Soho, London. She said that show was inspired by her years as a stripper and her concern about sexually transmitted diseases and also the suppression of some sexual practices in the UK.

After a brief break back at the hotel, we strolled in the very pleasant warm and slightly breezy Arkansas night–to dinner at Preacher’s Son–a great upscale restaurant in a former church. We were very glad to see that (as you can see on the door) no guns are allowed in the restaurant.

Mmmm the food. Let me try to remember. We shared two starteres: charred carrots that came on a bed of yogurt and some crunchy, spicy stuff.. and tuna carpaccio with watermelon and tomatoes, fennel, and elderflower cream, which was excellent. Then we shared a wonderful gnocci, followed by a whole branzino with beurre blanc and curry powder. Naturally we “needed” dessert so we had some kind of upside down cake with peaches and everything soaked in vanilla. Very yummy.

We strolled back to the hotel… Tomorrow is another day.