It was a thrill to see Bentonville on the Travel & Leisure magazine list of Hottest Travel Destinations of 2012.

Bentonville was right there alongside Sri Lanka, Toronto, Abu Dhabi and Hamburg (the one in Germany, not the one in Ashley County).

“Until now, Bentonville has been famous for one thing: It’s the home of big-box retailer Walmart,” Stephen Wallis wrote for Travel & Leisure. “But Alice Walton, youngest heir to the empire, is using a large share of her wealth — estimated by Forbes at $21 billion — to transform the region into a world-class cultural destination.”

Wallis called the Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art “an audacious gamble that a large-scale arts institution can thrive in the Ozarks.”

As I wrote in the previous Southern Fried blog post, it’s a gamble that seems to be paying off based on attendance for the museum’s first five months of operation.

“To hedge her if-you-build-it-they-will-come bet, Walton hired architect Moshe Safdie to design the museum, set on 120 wooded acres just outside town,” Wallis wrote. ”He created a series of gently curving pavilions hovering dramatically around and over ponds fed by natural springs.

“Walton also approached 21c Museum Hotels — which put Louisville, Ky., on the art-world map — about opening a property in town. Designed by Deborah Berke, it’s due next January.

“Her biggest investment may be the collection itself, bought at often eyebrow-raising prices and covering the full sweep of American art, from colonial portraitists Gilbert Stuart and John Singleton Copley to 19th-century masters Winslow Homer and Thomas Eakins, with a splash of contemporary art (Andy Warhol; Roxy Paine; Jenny Holzer) thrown in.

“The museum is already being touted by some as a countrified Guggenheim Bilbao — and Walton herself as a latter-day Morgan or Frick, digging deep into her pockets and dreaming big. This may be enough to attract culture seeekers from around the country, if not the world.”

I have only one quibble with Travel & Leisure’s assessment: It should have been northwest Arkansas, not just Bentonville, listed as being among the world’s hottest travel destinations.

I have no doubt that the people who come to visit Crystal Bridges will venture down to Rogers, Springdale, Fayetteville and even places such as Tontitown to eat and shop.

I say that after having recently spent a delightful couple of days in Fayetteville.

I stayed for the first time at the Dickson Street Inn, a two-building complex that has been remodeled into a 10-room inn. The main house, an 1894 Victorian, has eight of the rooms. An adjacent building houses the other two rooms.

Go to the online reviews at www.TripAdvisor.com and you’ll find sometimes brutal assessments of hotels, motels and bed and breakfast inns across the country. Reviews of the Dickson Street Inn are almost all positive.

Here’s an example: “Dickson Street Inn far exceeded my expectations during a recent trip to Fayetteville. The historic home converted to a B&B may look like a traditional inn from the outside, but it is so much more. The rooms are well appointed with comfortable beds and updated bathrooms.”

Here’s another: “My friend and I were early for a matinee performance at Walton Arts Center so decided to go for a short walk. We came upon this place and decided to stop in to check it out. Was I ever glad we did. We visit Fayetteville frequently and have stayed at various places. Unfortunately, after staying here for a weekend getaway with a group of friends, I will never be happy staying anyplace else, and certain weekends (i.e. football, parents, graduation, etc.) are booked solid far in advance. Everything was perfect.”

My two-night stay was just as advertised. After hearing Ernie Dumas interview former U.S. Sen. Dale Bumpers at an event on the Fayetteville square, several hours were spent late on a Friday afternoon at one of my top places in Arkansas to browse, the Dickson Street Bookshop.

Located at the corner of Dickson and School for more than three decades, the used bookstore is a classic.

Here’s how the Fayetteville Flyer described it a few years ago: “With an estimated 100,000 used books lining the tall floor-to-ceiling shelves (and sometimes in tall stacks in available corners), the Dickson Street Bookshop is one of the best independent used bookstores in the country. Visitors to the area are amazed at the incredible selection of used and out-of-print books and the unique maze-like layout, the dim lighting and the dusty smell that has become a staple of Dickson Street. … The Dickson Street Bookshop buys used books for cash or for store credit, and all transactions are done with paper and pen instead of computers and cash registers.

“There is no membership program. No Starbucks inside. Just a whole lot of books, and a lot of loyal customers, some of whom have been frequenting the store for its entire existence.

“In addition to the estimated 100,000 books kept inside the store, an additional 50,000 books are kept in storage, just waiting for their time on the shelves of the bookshop. The store sells an estimated 800-900 books a week and has somehow managed to stay open on Dickson Street during a time when dozens of retail establishments have come and gone in what has become more a restaurant and bar entertainment district than a downtown shopping area.”

I purchased a copy of John Gould Fletcher’s history of the state, “Arkansas,” for only $27.50. Published in 1947, the book was in excellent condition. I considered it a steal.

Fletcher, the famed poet and essayist who earned a Pulitzer Prize in poetry, drowned himself in a pond at his west Little Rock estate during a bout with depression just three years after publication of the book.

Writing for the online Encyclopedia of Arkansas History & Culture, historian Ben Johnson of Southern Arkansas University says “Arkansas” served for many years as the “most readable and accessible history of the state but attracted little attention elsewhere.”

I took the John Gould Fletcher book to the wooden deck that the Dickson Street Inn shares with the Dickson Street Pub and read several chapters while enjoying the glorious spring weather.

I had visited Crystal Bridges the previous day.

I had spent the previous evening with friends on the deck of Herman’s Ribhouse, which has changed very little since it opened in 1964. It became a favorite haunt back when I was a newspaper sportswriter. Ask me my top spots for hash browns, and I’ll tell you Herman’s and the Waffle House.

The next morning began with a leisurely breakfast at the Dickson Street Inn while reading the weekend Wall Street Journal. A brisk walk to the Fayetteville square followed so I could visit the Fayetteville Farmers’ Market, founded in 1974 and ranked among the top such markets in the country.

The remainder of the morning was spent at the annual meeting of the Arkansas Historical Association, and the afternoon was spent at Baum Stadium watching the No. 3 and No. 11 college baseball teams in the country square off.

Perfection.

Throughout my visit, I thought that Crystal Bridges might just be the draw that will open the floodgates, allowing visitors from across the country and around the world to enjoy all this part of the state has to offer.

For example, I hope a number of them will drive over to spend a night or two in Eureka Springs, which I’ve always considered a far more authentic, relaxing place to spend leisure time than the choked roadways of Branson.

While trying not to stereotype anyone, I do suspect that Eureka Springs will hold more appeal than Branson for the types of tourists who spend money to fly across the country to see art museums.

Or how about combining art museum visits with fly-fishing on the White River?

There have been dozens of published reviews of Crystal Bridges already, and most have been positive.

Writing in The New York Times, Roberta Smith called it “a big, serious, confident, new institution with more than 50,000 square feet of gallery space and a collection worth hundreds of millions of dollars in a region almost devoid of art museums. Much more than just a demonstration of what money can buy or an attempt to burnish a rich family’s name, Crystal Bridges is poised to make a genuine cultural contribution, and possibly to become a place of pilgrimage for art lovers from around the world.”

Let’s hope those world travelers take the time to also enjoy the charms of Fayetteville, Eureka Springs and other parts of northwest Arkansas.

It was difficult to find a parking place on Thursday morning of last week as I drove through the beautifully landscaped grounds of the Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art at Bentonville.

The Arkansas Economic Development Commission, the Arkansas Highway Commission and the Arkansas Parks, Recreation and Travel Commission were holding a joint meeting at the museum.

But that wasn’t the only reason for the lack of parking.

There were church buses from Arkansas and surrounding states.

There were tour buses.

The place was so crowded that visitors were being asked to take a backward trek through the museum in order to relieve congestion.

The lunch line was more than 75 people deep at one point during the middle of the day.

What wonderful problems for a museum to have after five months of operation.

According to Crystal Bridges director Don Bacigalupi, initial projections were for the museum to attract 150,000 to 200,000 visitors in its first year.

It has drawn more than 250,000 people in less than six months. In fact, Crystal Bridges is on pace to be in the top 10 of American museums in attendance.

Let that soak in for a moment.

Think about the many museums in New York, Washington, Chicago and Los Angeles.

Think about the thousands of other museums across the country.

And then savor the fact that a museum in Bentonville, Ark., might make the top 10.

The current issue of Time magazine has Alice Walton on its list of the 100 most influential people in the world.

Richard Lacayo, Time’s art critic, writes: “As a rule, major museums emerge in major cities, places where lots of people and lots of money converge. Alice Walton, 62, didn’t have to care about that rule. As one of the wealthiest women in the world, the daughter of Wal-Mart founder Sam Walton could put her new museum wherever she pleased. Where she pleased was Bentonville, Ark., the town where she grew up.

“She commissioned a handsome ensemble of connected pavilions by architect Moshe Safdie, set around an artificial lake and nestled in woodlands. And she filled them with a phenomenal collection of art, from colonial times on up to the 21st century.

“With the help of advisers, Walton built that collection smartly and aggressively. (Sometimes too aggressively, as with her hot pursuit of art from cash-strapped Fisk University). With Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art, she has placed a daring bet that a small town can become a big art-world destination. We’re betting she’s right.”

I’m betting she’s right, also.

Make the short trip from the museum to downtown Bentonville. View the 21c Hotel (the original in Louisville is rated among the world’s great hotels) going up. Now, consider this: Bentonville already is becoming known as more than a place that attracts vendors from around the world. I expect more boutique hotels and bed-and-breakfast inns will follow to cater to the high-dollar patrons anxious to see what all the fuss is about.

Drive along Walton Boulevard today and you’ll see what was the Clarion Inn and the adjacent Boston’s restaurant empty, victims of the recent recession. There are additional empty commercial properties. I don’t think properties such as those will be empty for long.

“The impact of Crystal Bridges has just begun to be felt in Arkansas and in our nation,” Bacigalupi says. “It is wonderful and appropriate that Alice Walton receive this mention in recognition of her vision and ability to transform our views of American art, culture and history.”

Bacigalupi says the museum has been “bombarded” by requests for group tours. That’s what leads me to guess that hotel improvements and expansions can’t be far behind in Benton County.

At the high end, the four-story 21c will have 103 rooms, a fitness center and what promises to be a world-class restaurant. Like the original 21c in Louisville, there will be lots of art — curated, rotating exhibitions along with live arts events. I expect an entire arts district – complete with small commercial galleries and coffee houses with music and poetry readings – to spring up around the square and near downtown during the next five years.

People will come with money to spend on hotel rooms, restaurants and gift items. Bacigalupi told members of the three commissions last week that business at the museum’s restaurant, Eleven, is 50 percent ahead of projections.

There was symmetry in the fact that the three commissions met in Bentonville on the same day that the Winthrop Rockefeller Institute on Petit Jean Mountain began another in a series of events celebrating the 100th anniversary of Rockefeller’s birth.

What on earth do I mean by that? Bear with me a moment.

The late governor’s son, Winthrop Paul Rockefeller, wrote this about his father back in April 2003: “On June 9, 1953, he set his suitcase down in the old Sam Peck Hotel and began a love affair with Arkansas that would last the rest of his life and into mine. When he arrived, Arkansas was one of the poorest states in the union, and many of its citizens could not see how to overcome its hillbilly image and inadequate educational system. I think merely by his presence, Dad made changes in the state’s self- perception.”

I agree.

And merely by its presence, Crystal Bridges is improving our perception of Arkansas.

Back on the day Crystal Bridges opened — Nov. 11 — my friend Warwick Sabin wrote a guest column for The Washington Post in which he noted how the national media felt compelled to mention the museum’s ”unlikely location.”

Sabin, the publisher of the Oxford American (I am a member of the magazine’s board), is a New York native who appreciates Arkansas and the South as much as anyone I’ve ever known.

“With a mix of bemusement, condescension and occasional disgust, outside observers remarked on the treasure trove of fine art that would be far away from the country’s metropolitan areas,” Sabin wrote. “Even when the concept received a nice pat on the head (‘After all, people in the middle of the country should get to see some good art, too,’ Rebecca Solnit wrote for The Nation), there was an underlying sense that this great cultural resource somehow doesn’t belong here — that it is being wasted on hicks who won’t appreciate it and therefore don’t deserve it.

“But that couldn’t be further from the truth. Crystal Bridges resides in a region that has come to define American culture, and the South is exactly where our nation’s most ambitious new cultural institution belongs. In fact, the idea that Arkansans would not recognize the value of Crystal Bridges was being disproved before it even opened.”

Sabin then addressed his decision to attend the University of Arkansas after growing up in Manhattan: “Almost everyone I knew outside the South thought I was crazy to move here and even crazier to stay. And, over the years, I have heard plenty of the same uninformed, snobbish ribbing about the South that has been directed toward Crystal Bridges. In response, I’ve spent countless hours explaining to friends the virtues and pleasures of living here.

“This state, with a population of less than 3 million, has a long history of punching above its weight in business, politics and other categories. I believe there are quantifiable reasons why Arkansas has produced a president of the United States and the largest corporation in the world, and if you look closely, you will see that Bill Clinton and Wal-Mart manifest similar qualities — namely, an ability to compete at the highest levels without being pretentious or elitist. This lack of pretension is disarming and often their biggest asset.

“Crystal Bridges brings the same approach to fine art, and this makes it a particularly excellent place to exhibit and appreciate some of our nation’s most notable pieces.”

Sabin ended the guest column with this take on the South: “This region has provided much of what the rest of the world thinks of as American culture. From music to literature to cuisine and other forms of artistic expression, the South has played a unique role in defining our national identity.

“Ask someone from another country to name ‘American’ foods, and they will most likely begin with fried chicken and barbecue. Or ask them to name ‘American’ music, and they will probably say jazz, blues and rock-and-roll. The short list of essential American writers always includes William Faulkner and Tennessee Williams.

“To this day, Southerners experience and perpetuate their culture in ways that most of us take for granted because it is a part of our day-to-day existence. We are surrounded by it, actually. But we don’t often recognize it for what it is. New York and California are where art goes to be feted and marketed. In the South, it is simply part of who we are.”

Bravo, Warwick.

Bravo, Alice Walton.

Less that six months after opening, it’s clear that Crystal Bridges is changing how others think about us (though I’ve never lost much sleep over that) and how we think of ourselves.