Day 2 | Tuesday | December 27

CLOSED?...did someone forget to tell them WE were coming?

Oh Thorncrown, what a disappointment. After traveling hours out of our way, how could you be closed? It is frustrating to say the least, considering we planned our entire trip around this one building. And considering Shawna had the forethought to call ahead and double check their event schedule I think we have the right to be angry at the way we were treated when we were asked to leave the premises. At least we got to see the outside? My guess... The bride is knocked up, secret emergency shotgun wedding, super hush hush.

In contrast, we also visited Crystal Bridges, even though we knew it would be closed and they had no issue with us walking around. In fact, the religious experience I prepared myself to have sitting inside the Chapel at Thorncrown, staring out into the Ozarks, I was able have walking around the park like setting of Crystal Bridges.

There was an obvious comparison to our NCMA, both art museums with large park extensions and my immediate reaction was this is what NCMA SHOULD have been. This is why people are so disappointed with the new NCMA building, it lacks the energy with which Crystal Bridges was designed. Their park space is even better then ours, it is a much more intimate scale. Oh, and I cannot say enough about plant labels... it's something I look for because I like to know the names of the plants I am admiring, it seems only reasonable and they did a really thorough job. It should be really beautiful in the spring, what a variety!