My Trip to Arkansas

June 6, 2019

Last week, I spent my time in Arkansas catching up with old friends and preparing to celebrate two of my friends’ wedding. Before we got caught up in all the wedding festivities, we spent the first four days exploring some of the state. At first, I thought I would be spending the week sitting in a house on a farm binge-watching Netflix and saying, “Yes, I am still watching” way too many times. But to my surprise, Arkansas has so much to offer if you ever get the chance to go! After spending a week visiting and meeting many people from The Diamond State, I want to share some things you probably wouldn’t think of when thinking of Arkansas.

Each of our days started how every day should – with coffee. The first place we went to get coffee from was a drive-thru called Coffee Container. Similar to Joe Beans, Coffee Container was a small building with a drive-thru window on each side. Unlike Joe Beans, Coffee Container’s “building” is an old shipping container that local couple, Alex and Jolene Wallace, turned into a coffee drive-thru. They don’t want to stay just a single drive-thru shipping container; their goal is to purchase three more shipping containers and transform Coffee Container into a quaint coffee shop. The next day we went to another coffee shop named Onyx. When I walked in, it felt like nothing you would expect to be in Arkansas with such a modern style. Filled with college students studying, business associates talking about work, and friends catching up, Onyx made for a perfect stop for anyone. The latte I got was one of the best I have had. It was made with their house made vanilla syrup and beans from a local coffee roaster.

We also had the chance to go to a local brunch restaurant called Pressroom. Pressroom’s relaxed and casual atmosphere made it a great spot to eat before our flight to leave. They also offer both gluten-free and vegan dishes as well as a wide selection of specialty coffee drinks which can be customized with their house-made syrups. They also serve one of the biggest pieces of avocado toast served with a mountain of eggs on top and some fresh greens on the side.

Tucked away in the forests of Bentonville is the Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art. This art museum is filled with beautiful art inside of the museum and outside on the trails. The inside of the museum is filled with American Art of all styles. “Crystal Bridges’ permanent collection spans five centuries of American masterworks ranging from the colonial era to the current day.” You can go outside on the eight different nature trails filled with artwork, springs, flowers, and other beautiful sites. The museum also boasts two beautiful pieces of architecture: Fly’s Eye Dome by Buckminster Fuller and the Bachman-Wilson House by Frank Lloyd Wright.

The second half of the week was mostly spent helping prepare for my friends’ wedding. While most of this time was spent helping set up and make sure everything was ready to go, I also got to meet a lot of amazing people. Most of these people I met came from a very different background and upbringing. They grew up in small towns where you knew everyone else that lived there, and you didn’t have much else than those people. After getting to talk to some of them, it reminded me just how important the relationships in our lives are. In college, relationships are constantly recycled. We are balancing so many relationships, and we sometimes miss out on the opportunities to grow those relationships we have. So just as a small town in Arkansas encouraged me, I want to encourage people to spend time investing in the relationships they have. Spend time pouring into those relationships you have because fellowship is one of the many beautiful gifts God has given us to grow as Christians and grow closer to Him.

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