Crystal Bridges

Sherry and I made a two-day (weekend) visit to NW Arkansas, in late October 2016.  We enjoyed beautiful, mild, autumn weather.

Our first destination was Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art.   Financed by Sam Walton's daughter Alice.   Located in Bentonville.  Admission is free to the museum and grounds.

We spent about 3 hours strolling through the four galleries.  The galleries were organized to provide a progression from early nineteenth century portrait and landscape painting, through the twentieth century with its modern art and mixed media pieces.

Each gallery featured a timeline of social and cultural events, which provided context for the exhibited artwork.

There were several startling exhibits - mixed media that were amazing lifelike.  Sherry and I were both stunned by this suspended fellow on the right.





The last gallery highlighted the period 1940 to today, which matches our lives.  This huge wall mural was called Moses and the Burning Bush.








In the second gallery, we noticed two landscapes of Yosemite, a national park which Sherry and I toured last year.

These landscapes were done in mid-1800s.  I don't recall the artists.


   - Art -

Arenal Volcano - Costa Rica

Feb 2016 getaway to Costa Rica.... a nine day trip.

We spent two nights at a resort located at the base of Arenal volcano.   Our room at a beautiful, direct view of the volcanic cone.  The volcano seemed to be active, emitting puffs of steam from two vents near the top.  No visible lava flow, however.

This part of Costa Rica is on the dry side of the central mountain range, at this time of year.   During our two days at Arenal, we visited the town of Cano Negro and enjoyed a river cruise near the Nicaragua border.

Groundwater is heated naturally by lava and is piped to a number of spa locations on the grounds of the resort hotels around the base of Arenal.  Sherry is enjoying the spa with some of our travel companions.

Prior to reaching the volcano, we spent two nights at Monteverde cloud forest which is on the wet side of the central mountain range.  At Monteverde, I was able to do the zipline course.

  - Art -