Love of nature makes Bella Vista feel like home

BELLA VISTA — When her family was ready to buy a home, Alison Nation had no desire to look in Bella Vista.

She thought she knew the exact Rogers neighborhood, complete with a nearby elementary school, where she wanted to live. But now, she’s grateful her husband insisted they look in Bella Vista.

“It really suits our lifestyle,” she said. “We are nature enthusiasts. We spend a lot of time on the lake all summer.”

They love the lake and the trails in the neighborhood as well as the feeling of being in the country.

Nation moved to Arkansas to attend grad school at the University of Arkansas. When she finished her master’s degree in fine arts, she realized she needed to find a job with health benefits and a regular paycheck, so she started looking for something in art education.

Crystal Bridges wasn’t open when Nation started in the education department there. Later, she transferred to communications and now she is the marketing manager for both Crystal Bridges and the new Momentary.

“I’ve always been a marketer at heart,” she explained. She works on campaigns for both institutions that go out to local and regional audiences in both social media and more traditional media.

The mission at Crystal Bridges is to make art a part of life and that is Nation’s favorite part, she said.

“We welcome everyone to the museum,” she said.

When the museums closed because of covid-19 last spring, Nation and other administrative staff started working from home. The doors have reopened at the museum, but Nation is still working from home. With her husband also working at home and two young boys, it hasn’t been easy.

Last year, they shared the supervision of their older son’s virtual school. Her husband worked in the morning and supervised in the afternoon, while she worked in the afternoon. It was difficult for either of them to fit in 40 hours’ worth of work in the limited time.

Over the summer, she was outside with her two boys when she saw a neighbor outside with a child. They waved to each other. Through text messages and phone calls, they realized their two families had some things in common. They were both being very careful with social distancing, but the kids needed some interaction with other children. It turned out that Nation’s neighbor was a preschool teacher and they arranged for the three children to become a “class.” Nation’s boys — one in second grade and one in pre-k — spend the mornings doing virtual school at the neighbor’s home.

“It’s been a relief,” Nation said, although she is still looking forward to sending her kids back to Cooper Elementary School when the crisis is over.

Meanwhile, they will spend free time this winter on home improvement projects. Nation loves to spend evenings on her deck. On weekends, they explore the trails. So far, they’ve hiked most of the Back Forty and picked up bowls full of fossils.

“Some hikes, we don’t get very far. We just stop and stare at the ground, but it’s a fun way to learn about the history of the earth,” she said. Now they’re getting ready to tackle the newer trails of the Little Sugar system.

Someday, they may find a house on one of the Bella Vista lakes but, for now, they’re happy where they are.

Nation