Since Bentonville, the home of Wal-Mart, is only about 10 minutes away, we took on day to visit it. Patsy had heard about Crystal Bridges, the museum that the Walton family built, being here, so we made a visit. We found it, and enjoyed it very much……… and the entrance fee was FREE!
We visited it on a Wednesday, and expected the attendance to be low. However, they have several conference rooms there, and a company was having a big meeting. The parking lot was full, and we had to use an overflow lot that offered a shuttle buggy.
As we approached the museum, it did not look very impressive. However, it is apparently built on a hillside, and the main entrance is simply access to a small lobby area with the elevator. To me, the exterior looked like a bunch of beetle bugs!!
Here are some pictures of the entrance……
And here are some exterior pictures……
In addition to being free, the museum allowed “non-flash” photos. I found out again, that I am not an Art Museum person!! I did take a couple of pictures, and I will explain “why” on each one of them…….
Patsy said that this was the most expensive painting in the building, and I liked it because it was so detailed that it looked more like a photograph!
Patsy at an outside ‘work of art’!!
The interesting thing about this is that it is a collection of hundreds of paperback books, with the book ends facing the viewer!!
This item was made from discarded NJ lottery tickets cut with an exacto knife and glued together. Some people just can’t find a full time job!!
This was an embroidered hallway, and I only posted it because Patsy was in it!
This is ‘Rosie the Riveter’ and there were couches in front of many of the art pieces with people just sitting there and staring!! Go figure!
Another portrait that was so detailed that it looked like a photograph.
And, of course, I had heard about Andy Warhol and this art!!
After our visit to Crystal Bridges, we went downtown to the Wal-Mart museum in Bentonville. It was located in an old ‘dime store’ on the square in the middle of town. A look-alike of Sam Walton’s truck was parked in front (we found the real one inside)! A lot of relics of the Walton family and the Wal-Mart evolution…..
The store had ‘old time’ products, and I found some “Valomilk” candy which along with York peppermint patties were my favorites as a young boy. Being somewhat poor, I could not afford to eat very many, but if they had cost $1.99, like this package did, I may not have ever known what they tasted like!!
They had a “Sam’s Truck” kids ride outside the store, and the meter said “10 Cents”, Rachel may finally get a real ride on this type of unit. Her parents have never let her know that these things move……. they just sit her in it or on it, and she thinks that’s it!!! I may ruin that later this week….. the truth about the Easter Bunny may be next!!
Driving around town, we saw a lot of Wal-Mart office buildings, training centers, and apparently some of their social & retail experiments…..
A convenience store:
What I call a “phone ahead and come pick it up store”:
We also saw several ‘neighborhood Wal-Mart's’ that were probably prototypes before those went to other cities. Kind of neat!!
To close out the day, we visited and had dinner with Patsy’s cousin, Roger Ullman and his wife, Liz, who retired to Rogers. I got a couple of pictures……
I am posting this on Friday, and Rachel shows up in about an hour………. so, there will many more posts with pictures!!!
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