the view from here: A Bridge (NOT) Too Far

We had a delightful adventure with Brian, Lara and Blake over to the Bentonville area a week ago to the Crystal Bridges Museum and hiking trails.

http://crystalbridges.org/

They'd been before, but it was our first time and we LOVE being the 'newbies', getting introduced to experiences and places that are meaningful to and fun for people we love. Such a great day it was!

The weather couldn't have been more beautiful as Brian took us up the scenic Hwy. 10 from Tahlequah, paralleling the full and running Illinois River, to Hwy. 412 and then over into Arkansas.

While dad and son chatted in the front, Lara and Blake and I had some good talk time, covering lots of topics like her upcoming travel plans with her family, Common Core implementation and, of course, singing and playing with Blake......

We enjoyed a nice lunch in Bentonville......

made all the nicer by having Blake as tableside 'entertainment'.

Then we headed on to tour the wonderful museum and trails at Crystal Bridges. This is a truly an amazing place, not only beautiful in the environment in which it is situated......

but the architecture and design elements throughout are 'art' in and of themselves. The place was busy on this warm Friday in June and in front of several of the works small groups were gathered, seated on portable canvas 'camp type' stools, with docents, discussing the pieces. Oh, how we'd love to return and get in on that experience.

They have available a several-page guided activity book for kids, as a well as a game sheet to help with acquainting visitors (of all ages, really) with the pieces on display. And all this is........free? Yessiree!

There's a lovely restaurant and adjacent to it a coffee bar called 'Eleven' where Brian, our favorite barrista, treated us to lattes. 'Eleven' gets its name from having opened on 11-11-11 at 11 a.m. clever;) We headed up one of the trails, enjoying beautiful wildflowers on both sides of the path.

Blake decided he wanted to trade hats with 'Pop'...... and Lara, our expert geocaching guide, led us on a short hunt for the treasure that soon yielded results near the Tulip Tree Pavilion!