Osage Park in Bentonville

May 24th we headed up to Centerton to take the Van Buren missionaries to a doctor's appointment there.  We used it as a chance to go check out the Osage Park, a nature park that included six pieces of outdoor art.  Bentonville is a very art-conscious community.  They have sculptures all over the city (over 40 of them), 77 outdoor murals, and other art pieces scattered through coffee shops, bars, and stores.  We had set up on the computer a potential art tour for our upcoming Senior Missionaries District meeting in Bentonville and we had hoped to try it out but hadn't had a free day in Bentonville to do that.  We were glad to have some time to check out the park.

It is also a nature park so was filled with native plants and wildflowers.  Different areas of the park were planted in different biosystems from the area.  I was racing fast to see the art pieces so didn't get much of the plant life in the first trip.

My favorite piece---a metal "paper airplane"

An heron flew by while I was at the air plane and landed in the shore of the pond in the direction I was going so was able to get some pictures of him.

Garden Boats

This is the first one as you enter the park-- Deja Vu

Some geese out for a swim

The park is built right next to the small private airstrip and there is suppose to be a great restaurant in the hanger but we didn't take time to check it out.

Not an official Little Free Library, but the same idea...

"Flight"

This one was called "A Tribute to the Vanishing Osage Prairie."

Although the other turn lanes were "normal", we got a picture of these who looked like they were either in a hurry or short on paint.

We also had a chance to visit a few other spots before the missionaries texted that they were done.

After we dropped them back off in Van Buren, Gary managed to find a different route through Van Buren and we found some old train trestles and bridges.  I got this one with an old mansion behind it, but then my phone died.  I think there are a few more on Gary's phone but I will have to get them later. It is fun to share the love of trains with Gary.  It is a little thing, but it brings us pleasure anyway.  Will there be trains in heaven?