FEATURE >> Travel: Bentonville, Ark.

By Staff Sgt. Jake Barreiro
19th Airlift Wing Public Affairs

Although I wouldn’t say I’m a cosmopolitan, I do think of myself as an avid traveler. From the time, as a 4-year-old lad, I frightened my mother by wandering out of my backyard in Penn Hills, Penn., in search of a local park, the idea of discovering new places, things and experiences on my own excited me. And it was with this desire to find something new that I, equipped with nothing but a large stick I cribbed from a tree in my backyard, joyfully sauntered up and down the many hilly streets of my neighborhood, seeking a new place to play, a local park I’d seen from the car earlier.

 My voyage was unsuccessful as I couldn’t figure out which direction the park was in, and I  was soon interrupted and  found out I was in trouble when my mother, nearly 8-months pregnant with my little sister, came over one of the hills screaming at me, demanding I return home. My adolescent brain, probably in fight or flight mode, elected to flee, and I started running. My mother told me how she tried to commission the help of some local boys in catching me, but they demurred because of the large stick I was swinging around while I ran. So, burdened with my nearly born little sister, my mother tracked me down through the numerous hills and caught me. Twenty minutes later I was forcibly returned to my home and received a spanking. When I was asked why I “ran away” and didn’t stop when ordered to, the only thing I could say was “I was looking for the park.” I never found the park, and never forgot the thrashing I got either.

So why talk about my poor sense of direction and genetic disobedience at the beginning of a travel story about Bentonville, Ark.? Because, 23 years later, while in my eyes arguably a little more mature and self-sufficient, I still get excited about the idea of discovering something new. The discovery need not be epic in scope either, simply stumbling upon an unexpected experience is enough to satisfy me most of the time. For me traveling is primarily about sensory experiences, entertainment, discovery, companionship and above all, novelty because why travel anywhere if you’re not going to try and experience something new?

That’s why, when my boss threw out a remark about a piece of artwork by Andy Warhol on display at the Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art in Bentonville, Ark., regarded as a “must see” museum in Arkansas, I wanted to look into traveling there. It didn’t hurt that my wife, far more than me, is an art fanatic and Warholic. When I broached her with the suggestion she happily wanted to go along for a weekend trip.

Still, I knew very little about Bentonville, had never heard of it before, so I looked up some information about it. I found in addition to the Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art, Bentonville’s notoriety was in housing the headquarters of Wal-Mart and the Wal-Mart’s Visitor’s Center, an old fashioned shop with displays and artwork chronicling the history of the retail giant. While I’m not big into consumerism, my interest was peaked in seeing how a local business could become a global giant, and really because I’m always happy to go somewhere new, so we decided to go.

 So, equipped with a GPS, (my sense of direction is still nothing to boast of,) a couple changes of clothes and my superlative travel companion, wife Cecelia Guadalupe Ortiz-Barreiro (Cece to friends), I headed out to Bentonville on a Saturday evening.

The drive wasn’t extremely long, but a bit of a trek, taking nearly three and a half hours from my Cabot home to the steps of our hotel in downtown Bentonville. The scenery on the way out there is relatively commonplace for Arkansas, gorgeous views of the outdoors full of local color and such, but views of the Ozark Mountains especially nice at dusk. I enjoyed the pretty views and quiet while Cece (as is typical) caught a nap.

We arrived at 9:30 p.m. Saturday evening, so we weren’t able to explore much of the town. Bentonville, with all of its attractions, isn’t host to a lively night life, so we decided to lounge around our hotel, have dinner, cocktails and relax before beginning our exploration the next day.

We stayed at the 21C Museum Hotel, in the middle of downtown Bentonville, and it was easily one of the more audacious hotels I’ve stayed at with art-themed décor and room set-up. Priced at $149 a night, it wasn’t the cheapest lodgings in Bentonville, but is closely located to all of the major attractions and a unique place to stay (there are two other 21C Hotels, in Louisville and Cincinnati.)

 The bottom floor hosts dozens of art exhibits, including an entire section showcasing short films. Most of the art is contemporary, featuring plenty of avant-garde photography and exhibits. When we arrived, there were droves of people perusing the exhibits throughout the hotel or chatting together in the bar.

After we dropped our baggage off in the room, Cece and I were famished and elected to eat at the hotel’s restaurant: The Hive. It wasn’t the most frugal option, but we enjoyed a good meal. I had pan-seared snapper ($21) and Cece had roasted duck soup ($22). The restaurant, like the rest of the hotel, was decorated in art displays, including hoards of wax green penguins, which the wait staff placed at tables throughout the restaurant. Cece loved her meal, and I thought the snapper was good. After our pie and ice cream desert, we headed back to the room to rest.

The next morning we got up early, excited to explore and discover the small town of Bentonville. Since we were out of the hotel at 9 a.m. and nothing around town really gets rolling until 11 (it was Sunday so I surmise a majority of the town residents were in church,) we took a leisurely walk around town.

The town square, located directly down the street from our hotel, is a compact, quaint and picturesque area populated by numerous stores and small restaurants, with a park and Civil War Confederate Soldier monument in the middle. The weather was perfect for more walking so we explored some of the pathways and walking trails, also close to our hotel, and enjoyed the beautiful weather and scenery before finding a place for lunch.

Finding good or unique food can always be a challenge when traveling. I know a lot of friends who lean on ratings from sites like Yelp or Urbanspoon, but I find this antithetical to the spirit of discovery, as there’s no credentials necessary to rate a restaurant on those sites. Of course a lot of areas have signature styles too. For Arkansas people might think of barbecue; I try, whenever I can while traveling, to find something out of the way and unexpected.

 In our search we found a small gem right outside the doors of our hotel, which we might have overlooked had we not seen a large line forming in front of it. The place was a food trailer parked across the street called Crepes Paulette, advertised as an authentic French creperie.

The owner, Fred, French-born, and his wife both worked in the shop and were taking orders and making crepes while we stood in line. The line was long, and while we waited we heard nothing but great things about the creperie, which only opened a couple of years ago.

Customers talked about how it’s a Sunday tradition for them to grab a crepe or how they always take their visiting family members to come out and try one with them.

Once again, I don’t fancy myself an expert on food, or many things, but I’ve been to Paris and eaten crepes on the Rue du Montparnasse, and Fred’s were as good as the others I’ve had. Fred was speaking French with some of the customers, but I didn’t have the gall to force my appalling, poorly accented and grammatically bankrupt attempts on him.

I got a chicken, spinach and feta cheese savory crepe while Cece got a turkey, spinach and cheese, each wrapped in whole-grain buckwheat. The crepes cost $7 a piece, were large enough to be a meal and, most importantly, delicious. So delicious that my wife yearned to get another one before we left Bentonville Monday, only to be despondent to find the shop was closed Mondays and Tuesdays.

With freshly made and devoured crepes digesting, we headed to our next destination in Bentonville, the big attraction, the one we came all the way out there to see: Crystal Bridges. 

Getting to the museum was an enjoyable trek from our hotel. Less than a block from the 21C Museum Hotel are the Compton Gardens, 6.5 acres of open to the public woodlands and walking trails, which lead directly to Crystal Bridges. We sojourned around the walking trails and took in the atmosphere in Compton, meandering around for an hour or two before coming straight out to a view of the museum.

The Crystal Bridges permanent collection is free, with temporary exhibits occasionally touring to the museum viewable for a charge. A Norman Rockwell exhibit was on display when we visited, but we decided to stick to the free permanents, which is just as well since there were more than 400 works of art on display, enough to fill up hours of viewing.

For the next two, three hours or so, we strolled through American history in the form of artistic expressions, including portraits, avant garde displays, statues and other dramatic displays of art beginning with colonial America up to present day. Some key artists included Andy Warhol, Jackson Pollock, Georgia O’Keefe, Kara Walker, Norman Rockwell, Francis Grey and Gilbert Stuart. There weren’t a lot of controversial or radical works of art, but the range of selection and sheer amount on display (for free too) was excellent.

I have a tendency to not like sitting or standing around in one place for long so we took a little less than three hours in the museum, but could have easily spent a couple more hours perusing and talking about the art. For art lovers in Central Arkansas, Crystal Bridges makes Bentonville a must-stop destination.

Our Sunday concluded with a small dinner while we rested from walking around in the warm sun all day. Waking up Monday, we had one more destination to see in Bentonville before heading home: The Wal-Mart Visitor’s Center/historical museum. The set up consists of an old fashioned general store, with a milkshake shop next store, but in the back is a small museum of videos, text, displays and memorabilia chronicling the history of America’s biggest retail chain.

The visitor’s center reaches back from the early days of the retail chain, originally a small general store, and culminates with its modern day status as a global giant. There’s a lot of information for the interested guest, although the canonizing of founder Sam Walton can be a bit over the top, it’s a great stop which tells the fascinating story of how a tiny shop on a small street in Bentonville, Ark., would go on to dominate global retail.

We emerged from the Visitor’s Center with healthy appetites, so we stopped to get some food before hitting the road. We stopped at a Latin bistro-style restaurant in town square. I got a portabella mushroom melt ($9) and my wife got the enchiladas ($8).

Satiated and satisfied with our visit, we headed back home, both happy with our little trip. While we saw what we came to see, we also stumbled upon a few surprises and, above all, we had a great time together, which is really the key to enjoying travel anywhere.

Bentonville does have an impressive museum of American art, available for free, which is, along with the surrounding gardens and resplendent walking trails, the biggest reason to visit. We were also delighted to be able to have authentic French crepes right on the street. We didn’t always select the most frugal options, but there are numerous affordable locations for lodging and food in the area. Anyone interested in American art, classical or contemporary and seeking a place to spend a nice weekend in Arkansas, should check the weather and head to Bentonville.