Crowning Queen Willy

One view from the Talimena Scenic Drive

Last year on our trip to see the Crystal Bridges Museum, we traveled down the Talimena Scenic Drive but couldn’t stay at the Queen Wilhelmina State Park Lodge because it was under renovation. This year we remedied that situation. The lodge is actually in Queen Wilhelmina State park which is crossed by the 54-mile Talimena Scenic Drive and the 225-mile Ouachita National Recreation Trail. Designated a National Scenic Byway, Talimena Scenic Drive runs along the crests of Rich and Winding Stair mountains within the Ouachita National Forest; it also links Arkansas and Oklahoma. The Ouachita National Recreation Trail connects Pinnacle Mountain State Park in Arkansas and Talimena State Park in Oklahoma; 192 miles of the trail are within the national forest. The scenery, alone, is ample reason to stay in the lodge; however recent upgrades have made this place lovelier than ever.

Arkansas Art and Reviews

Yellow wildflowers

I’d heard about the Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art and since it's spring I thought it would be nice to drive up to the northwestern corner of Arkansas. I’d expected lots of wild flowers and was a bit disappointed that they hadn’t made their appearance yet, but the vistas were still lovely in their shades of new spring green. One of my favorite places to go in either the fall or the spring is Queen Wilhelmina State park. Getting to the museum and back was surely going to consume more than one day, so an overnight at the Queen Wilhelmina Lodge seemed like a great idea. Just like the late-blooming flowers, the lodge was a late-bloomer, opening this summer after extensive renovations. Oh well, the views from the Talimena Scenic Drive were lovely.