Arkansas Trip

Hello.  Yes, sorry, it has been a while.

So, summer has started here.  Bailey has already spent her first week as a summer camp counselor at the Girl Scout camp.  She goes again tomorrow for another week.

During her week off, we took a trip with my Mom to Bella Vista, Arkansas.  It was beautiful. 

Since I haven't posted in such a long time, I'm going to blast you with a ton of pictures.  You have been warned.

We stayed in a condo while in Bella Vista. This was the living area.

This was the (straight out of the 1980's but still impressive) master bathroom.

We had instant drama when we got there because there was a HUGE cricket in the tub. It took a lot of thought and planning to capture said cricket and release him into the wild.

The neighbors came out to greet us on our first day as well. Very nice!

More from the condo.

Mom enjoying the back deck.

Our second day we went to Crystal Bridges Museum in Bentonville, Arkansas. It's a very new museum started by the daughter of Sam Walton of Wal-Mart fame. The building and surrounding area is beautiful and they have trails that surround the area as well. This would have been so nice with water coming down, but it was dry that day.





Mom and Bailey at lunch.

The ceiling in the lunch area. I loved all of the wood.

Taken during our walk around the grounds of the museum.

Show me some love please.








I just loved this bird house.


Mom, Bailey and Rominal.



Bailey, Rominal and me.


I have a thing for pigs, so I really liked this one.



The museum is set so that you walk around a "lake" while looking at the art inside.  Very nice.


For dinner that night, we went to the town of Bentonville. These next couple of pictures were from their town square.


Yum, looks like salad.

The next day we drove out to Eureka Springs, Arkansas and spent the day out there.

It's a fun little town with lots of shops to see.

Rominal was having a good time.


We had breakfast here while we sat outside on the deck and watched the people go by. Very nice and relaxing.


Rominal liked this little chapel, especially in contrast to the next one we saw.


One of the things we wanted to see while in Eureka Springs was the Thorncrown Chapel. It was stunning.


I don't know the people in this picture, but I loved how they looked so reflective.

This chapel was designed by the architect E. Fay Jones.


This was all wood, I think.




The path to and from the chapel was lovely too.


I had read about the Onyx Cave online which was close by, so we went there as well.

As caves go, it was pretty hokey, but we made the best of it.

It was nice and cool in the cave, which was a nice change from the heat above ground.

This picture is really dark, but it shows our view from the back deck.

On our last day in town, we explored more of Bella Vista. They have a chapel there that was also designed by E. Fay Jones. This is the Mildred B. Cooper Memorial chapel and we liked it a bit better than the Thorncrown, although it is less well known.


We had the place to ourselves for a bit.


Bailey enjoying the building.





There was a nice walk around the area that we did.  It's hard to see through the thick trees, but there's a lake on the right.


I loved the thick bark on this tree.


After lunch, we decided to do something very out of Rominal's comfort zone.  We rented a boat and toured Loch Lomond.  Rominal even drove the boat for a bit. (Notice that he's wearing his life vest)


It was a very peaceful lake, surrounded by beautiful homes.





We stopped for a bit so that Bailey could dip her feet into the water.


We saw this heron on the shore.


I had fun driving the boat as well!


We left the next morning to drive home. 

Someone was quite pleased to see us.


Last night we went to see a Coldplay concert in Dallas.  We bought these tickets back in December as part of Bailey's Christmas and birthday present.  It was a fantastic concert and we had a great time. 

Bailey leaves for another week of camp tomorrow and the fun just keeps on going.