Northwest Arkansas

May 5-10, 2011.  We are at the Prairie Creek campground on Beaver Lake in Rogers.  We are centrally located to see Rogers, Bentonville, Springdale, Eureka Springs, and Fayetteville.  Our first day consisted seeing the first Wal-Mart and it's museum.  It was Walton's 5 & 10 store.  This town is Wal-Mart.  They are building an 80 million dollar Crystal Bridges Art Museum, paid for by the Walton trust. The corporate offices are also here.  It is a nice, clean, historic city.  We got an oil change, had a picnic in a park, I got adjusted at a chiropractor and went to the 1875 Peel Mansion and historic gardens.  Mr. Peel was a Confederate soldier, the first U.S. senator from Arkansas, a businessman, and Indian agent.  We toured the mansion and gardens.  That evening we went south to Springdale to the Springdale Naturals (AA) play baseball against the Springfield, Missouri Cardinals. We were tired, so we left after 6 innings with the Naturals up 8 to 3.  Yesterday we went to Eureka Springs.  Eureka Springs is 100% tourist driven. Several hundred artists, tons of restaurants, gift shops, etc.  We tried to stay away from all that. We took a ride on an old electric-diesel train, part of the Eureka & Northwest Arkansas line, took a trail to see Pivot rock, and had a nice dinner.  We visited the mostly glass, Thornwood Chapel in the woods.  The highlight of the trip was getting to see the Great Passion Play.  This is an outdoor amphitheatre, seating 4,000, that depicts the last 10 days in Jesus Christ's life.  It had 250 actors and just as many animals.  It was a moving experience.  We also visited the Sacred Art Gallery, which had hundreds of paintings and carvings of Jesus, the Last Supper, and anything to do with his life.  Also on the sight is a tremendously large statute of Jesus that is atop the mountain. There was also a Bible museum on site.  The Passion Play is a "don't miss" when in northwest Arkansas.
Laundry day was Monday, so we stayed around Rogers.  We went to the Daisy BB Gun Museum, which was surprisingly great.  The museum chronicled the company's 150 years and had one of every rifle, hand gun, toy or other item that they made.  Hundreds of them. We were really blown away by this museum and the presentations.  The highlight was getting to see the 3 original Rough Rider BB rifles used in the movie "A Christmas Story."  You could also by BB guns at a reduced price.  The guns are all made in Rogers.  We also went to the Pea Ridge National Battlefield Museum and rode the 7 mile tour.  It was a great Union victory, although the Union was out manned 4 to 1.
Our last full day in Arkansas we went to Fayetteville and went to Bill & Hillary Clinton's first home.  We also went to the Hall of Champions at the University of Arkansas and saw the history of Razorback (Hog) football.  Every trophy from every bowl game as well as their 1964 national championship were on display.  Arkansas is a very scenic state and we enjoyed our visit.

               

                            

                              

                              

Deb in Hillary Clinton's garden