Tuesday, February 14, 2012

A Trip Home

A snow day in Arkansas.

Before the beginning of any voyage, there is always the goodbye, and on Sunday, I rolled back across the Arkansas border to say mine to my family and to drop off my car with my little brother who will be keeping it safe and happy (right, Aleks?!?) while I'm gone. It's been wonderful to hang out with my brothers and sister, though we did see Star Wars Episode I in 3D and it was still horrible. In 3D.



I had to abandon my wonderful man and my wonderful boat on this trip. Vlad had to keep working, and Bettie doesn't travel well over land. But Aleks and his boyfriend Jon distracted me with a trip to Crystal Bridges, the new American art museum sponsored by the Walton family. I was skeptical of it at first, but I have to admit it's a pretty incredible collection and an amazing piece of architecture nestled back into the hills. Aleks says the building looks like a humpback whale and a turtle died in an Ozark holler, and my mom's boyfriend Bob described it as a group of marauding roly polies. If you happen to find yourself in Northwest Arkansas, you've got to see it.

This sculpture is right outside the entrance.

I'm glad we don't have seagulls like this in Kemah.

If you're interested in what kind of artwork is on display there, Jon has created a great website that covers the entire collection.

2 comments:

  1. Ah, Arkansas. Such beautiful mountains. Such amazing rock hounding. Such deep snow and slippery highways. I have memories of doing several 360' turns on the highway outside Arkadelphia when we got caught in a snowstorm traveling to Tennessee. We were very fortunate to survive that by landing on the merdian, which was flat. We drove off of it, then got off on the next exit and hunkered down in Arkadelphia to wait out the storm. I was pregnant with Claire, our 26 year old. I guess it's about like finding a sheltered cove to wait out a storm at sea.
    Glad you could go home for a fond farewell. When do you set sail?

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  2. We are heading out in April. It's so close, and the preparation has been incredibly fun/intense. Glad you found shelter from the storm in my home state. It's truly a gorgeous place.

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