Flip and Kathy Smith have lived in Bella Vista for about three-and-a-half years and both say it was a great choice.
Flip Smith said that they chose the area because they wanted a retirement community but with more emphasis on community, while the home needed enough garage space for his vintage Pontiac.
They ended up near Lakepoint, with a good view of Loch Lomond in one direction and the woods in the other.
"We got the best of both worlds," he said.
Flip Smith said he was raised in Fayetteville, then moved to Omaha where he started his sales career.
He worked in the plumbing industry, he explained, and covered 23 states toward the end of his career. He retired six years ago.
"I knew people at the airport by first-name basis," he said.
Kathy had 20 years in the retail industry and 30 teaching in higher education, a career she's retiring from later this year.
She studied fashion, merchandising and product development at the University of Arkansas, she said, and worked in retail before moving back to Northwest Arkansas, where she expanded on her education and earned a master's degree.
She taught at the university, then in Charlotte, and currently teaches at the University of Arkansas.
"It's been a good run and I've enjoyed it, but I'm ready for the next thing," she said.
Kathy Smith said she's eager to spend more time on the lake with the family boat, traveling, visiting grandchildren and getting back into golf.
Flip Smith has spent his retirement, so far, heavily involved with a couple of local car clubs, Heartbeat of the Ozarks and the Arkansas River Chapter Pontiac Club, where he works to bring in new members and helps with fundraisers.
"It's exciting to keep that in your blood," he said.
He's had a 1966 Pontiac GTO for the past nine years, which he bought in his wife and mother's hometown of Rogers.
It saw a lot of car shows and earned trophies at first, he said, but he got tired of sitting around at a show.
"Vintage cars are made to be driven, not sitting in garages," he said.
Cruising has become one of his primary hobbies, he said, and the car itself is what got him introduced to the clubs he's involved in. Another enthusiast spotted him, he said, and approached him to discuss the club.
"Nine years ago I joined the Pontiac club ... and it's history since," he said.
There's plenty for them to do in Bella Vista and it's been a great retirement so far, Kathy Smith said.
"We joke and the neighbors joke that we live in paradise -- and we really do," she said.