One of our objectives in travelling the US is to look for good places to retire. We love the San Francisco Bay Area but the housing costs and traffic are not ideal for retirement, particularly not early retirement. We made a retirement wish list about 3 years ago (should probably revisit that now) and we thought a city that was walkable, diverse, had a low crime rate, was economically robust, cycle friendly, and maybe included a college where sports, music, lectures, theater and art might be available, would be ideal. We had a few other hopes too, like being no more than 2 hours from an airport. We knew we probably wouldn’t get everything on the list.
We were very surprised when a recent visit to Springdale, Rogers, and Bentonville, Arkansas checked a lot of our retirement boxes! The biggest disadvantage is that Arkansas is much too far from our parents, children, and grandchildren. Summer is likely hot and humid (after all it is still the South), and to date, we haven’t enjoyed the randomness that comes with tornado season in the southern states, but read on and you’ll see that there are a lot of positives!
What took us to this northwest corner of Arkansas in the first place? Doug has family in Rogers and then we found out that my brother-in-law’s parents live nearby in Springdale. This little 30-mile stretch from Fayetteville to Bentonville is a hidden gem and we were lucky enough to have some extended family to show us around!
We had camped near Ozark, Arkansas the day before driving to Rogers and drove the Pig Trail Scenic Byway to get to Rogers. We were a little early for spring season but as we always joke, “this area probably beautiful at the right time of year!”
Driving the Pig Trail Scenic Byway.
We knew that Bentonville was the headquarters for Walmart, but we had no idea that the Walton’s values and their presence in the area is what makes this little corner of Arkansas so unique. From the south heading north, Fayetteville is the first town in this series of small towns that we’re talking about. It’s home to the University of Arkansas and Razorback fans seem like my type of fans -fanatical! For performing arts, Walton Arts Center is one of the largest and busiest establishments in the state. It has a hilly landscape near the Ozark Mountains and Ozark National Forest. There are hundreds of miles of regional trails for hiking and biking in the area and nearby Beaver Lake and all its branches and tributaries are great for water sports and fishing as well.
We bypassed (but would circle back to Springdale) and headed to Rogers, where Doug has cousins and an Aunt that he hadn’t seen in… too long. Suzi and Howard have a beautiful brick home, with a light and airy feel. They have a huge yard and a large patio that they’ve enclosed to turn into a playroom for their grandkids, which is really fun. With 4 children (two boys and two girls, all married now) they are blessed with 8 grandchildren, 4 that live in the area. Suzi’s mom JoAnn lives with them so how great is that for the grandchildren to know and spend quality time with their great grandmother on a regular basis?!
Rogers, Arkansas has a population of about 70,000. It was the location of the first Walmart store and is home to Daisy Air Rifles and the Red Ryder BB Gun of A Christmas Story and “you’ll put your eye out kid” fame. This city, and all of the cities mentioned in this post, has a vast network of biking and hiking trails with more and more being added through partnership with Walmart. The downtown is quaint and filled with cute boutiques, restaurants, and a fun city park for kids. Suzi, Howard, and JoAnn took us to the Daisy Airgun Museum, which was outstanding! We also enjoyed some amazing coffee at the very popular Onyx Coffee Lab and ended the day with a stop at Andy’s Frozen Custard for the best frozen custard we’ve eaten to date- further solidifying Doug’s new favorite desert!
Suzi and Howard continued the area tour with the short trip to Bentonville to walk around its charming and colorful downtown square (picture at top of post). We stopped in to visit the Walmart Museum (at its temporary location while the original store/museum undergoes remodeling). Walmart has plans for a huge campus in the area and their story is a sort of rags to riches with founder Sam Walton’s values front and center…very wholesome.
Interactive display with Walmart founder Sam Walton
Our favorite part of the stay was just spending time with the Conleys and their great family. We were able to meet their daughters, sons-in-laws and grandkids on several occasions. They shared pictures, family stories, and hobbies. We introduced them to the card game “Wizard” and JoAnn proceeded to wallop us!
Despite the wallop, it was great to reconnect, and we just had the best time!
From Rogers, we scooted down to Springdale to spend time with our brother-in-law’s parents, Judy and Warren.
They have a beautiful home and garden. I was disappointed that we were there too early in the year to see the flowers in bloom as I know it looks amazing now. I shouldn’t be surprised, knowing their son Kyle, that he got his knack for home décor from his parents. Their home has a beautiful palette and diverse pieces of art and sculpture with personal stories behind each, that all complement each other so beautifully!
Judy is the model of southern hospitality, and she didn’t love the idea of us sleeping in her driveway like homeless people, but we find the packing and unpacking process to be a challenge – so she acquiesced, and the stay in their driveway was perfect!
They took us to Bentonville for two local experiences – 21C Museum Hotel which is a hotel that houses rotating exhibits of contemporary art followed by Crepes Paulette, for the most delicious lunch! It was outstanding.
The Cunninghams got us hooked on this season of “The Voice” and we loved talking with Warren about kayaking and with both of them about their travels, our travels, music, books, shows, podcasts, gardening, and of course, their son, Kyle. Loved the photos of him growing up!
Like Suzi and Howard, Warren and Judy said that the Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art in Bentonville was an area “must-see”, so the next day we drove to Bentonville to check out the museum and the surrounding bike trails.
The museum is world class and free of charge thanks to the Walmart family. We loved that it was so diverse.
The bike trails were incredible and Bentonville also boasts the “world’s first-ever bikeable building” so we had to do that! The 230,000 sf “Ledger” office building features six stories of exterior switch-backed bike ramp that leads to a patio at the top with great views of downtown. We enjoyed it a lot, but I’m sure it was distracting to people who work in those offices.
A walk through interactive display at the museum
Biking around the outside of a building in Bentonville
We had so much fun that we were sad to leave. We had no idea we would fall in love with this unique little corner of Arkansas, but even better than that, we fell in love with the extended family that lives there. We’re so thankful to Suzi, Howard, JoAnn, all their kids and grandkids and Judy and Warren for taking the time to get to know us better, hosting us, and letting us be part of their lives for a few short days. These are the moments from our travels that matter most, and we always look back on them and remember them fondly! We left little pieces of our hearts in Arkansas and we look forward to the next time we see you all!
