In between conference trips early this month, Nate and I joined our friends Toni and Bev for a quick road trip down to Bentonville, Arkansas. Why? To visit Crystal Bridges, the art museum and pet project of Walmart heiress Alice Walton, and to experience the Time Loop.
A Museum of American Art
With scenic highways and rolling hills covered with fall foliage, southwest Missouri into northwest Arkansas is the perfect region for an Autumn drive. Bentonville is just south of the Missouri border, about a three hour drive from Kansas City. We left around 7 a.m., which put us at Crystal Bridges just after their 10:00 opening.
If you park in the upper lot, you’ll walk past a circle drive to pavilion with an elevator that will take you down to the main lobby with a restaurant and gift shop. With the support of the Walmart Foundation, general admission to the museum’s permanent galleries and trails is free.
The museum’s structure is made up of connected concrete, glass, and wood pavilions nestled around two creek-fed ponds. Because they’re just finishing up a 114,000 square foot expansion set to open in June of 2026, a number of the galleries and art pieces are in a transitional stage.
While the architecture of the museum itself is a piece of artwork to behold, the collection inside includes American art from the colonial era to today, and features paintings, sculptures, and other pieces in a wide variety of styles and mediums.
Exploring Art in Nature
Beyond the museum’s walls, the trails and grounds, covering 134 acres, are spotted with sculptures and pieces too. Thankfully the weather was absolutely gorgeous for our visit, and we wandered paved and unpaved trails under a clear blue sky and vibrant fall foliage.
We were also amazed at the natural art that exists around the museum. Massive boulders along a pathway on the west side of the complex are covered in quartz crystals, which likely inspired the name of the spring that the museum is also named after.
Dismantled and moved from its original location in New Jersey, the Frank Lloyd Wright Bachman-Wilson House also sits on the museum’s grounds. With a free timed entry ticket, you can view the interior of the house, but unfortunately they sold out by the time we got to it.
Entering the Time Loop
Later that evening, we returned to the Crystal Bridges campus for a timed entry into Time Loop: A Forest Light Experience. This outdoor night-time exhibition designed by Klip Collective uses light projections and sound rhythms to transform the forest trails into a wonder-provoking journey across time and space.
Overall the Time Loop was a fun experience, and even included a couple of interactive elements. It was fascinating to see how they made the forest come alive with light movement coordinated with different rhythms and sounds.
Food and Drinks around Bentonville
We only stayed in town for one evening so we didn’t have time to explore a lot of dining options, but we did enjoy these stops for food and drink:
- Eleven – the restaurant in the lobby at Crystal Bridges, named after the date the museum opened, 11/11/2011. We stopped for lunch here before exploring the trails and grounds.
- Table Mesa – a restaurant with multi-cultural offerings on the square in downtown Bentonville. For dinner, Nate got the Moe Bowl, and I had the delicious butternut squash enchiladas. We also had to try the spiced strawberry margaritas!
- Tower Bar at the Momentary – an upscale rooftop bar with great cocktails and a beautiful view of the downtown area. We stopped here for a nightcap after the Time Loop.
- The Buttered Biscuit – a local diner-style chain that offers gluten free options, including waffles. We stopped for breakfast the next morning, before heading back north.
We managed to pack a lot into our less than 24 hour trip, but Nate and I were glad to spend time with our friends and explore a new area. We definitely would return to see more!
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