TuzigootJournal: Virginia Caverns

On Friday, 10/26, we drive from Washington, PA, to Luray, VA. Lots of nice fall colors in SW PA and the north sides of WV and MD. Cloudy, rainy, foggy day, though, so the beauty doesn't shine through. We vow that some time we'll spend a couple of weeks or more in this part of the country this time of year. Doesn't get the pub of New England, but lots of color and scenic, historic villages aplenty.

Same goes for the Shenandoah, Blue Ridge region in VA. Stonewall Jackson country. We're a little early for full fall color here, but rolling green hills, colonial farm houses, and the start of fall color are quite nice. We're here to go underground, though. Meeting son Mike, with Karen and Jason, for some weekend cavern touring. They meet us at the campground near Luray; all five of us are staying in TuziTwo. The kids had some excitement on the way up: the car in front of them hit a deer, then an oncoming car hit the deer again. Deer parts went flying over and around their car. Fortunately, no car crashes or other problems. We've seen a lot of roadkill deer on this trip.

Saturday morning we headed for nearby Luray Caverns (all but Susie who is not fond of the underground environment -- she'll have a half-day of R&R). Here's a scene:

Lots of interesting formations to see throughout our one-hour tour. One of the most interesting man-made features was the cavern organ. In one large room a clever musician had constructed fixtures holding rubber hammers to a keyboard so that the hammers would strike a stalactite when the key was played. I think the guide said there were 37 carefully calibrated stalactites and we watched as a hymn was played. In a different cave, Jason got to strike a horizontal projection and play a musical note.

All three caverns we visited have ancillary attractions -- something else to keep you in the gift shop vicinity. At Luray it's a hedge maze. We have a lot of fun in it. Goal is to find four treasure chests, at each of which you stamp your ticket with a stamp that has a part of a phrase. The phrase, put together, is the maze's theme of the week. That gives you more to do than "just" finding your way from entrance to exit. We all enjoyed the maze. it was as much fun as the cave.

Next day, Sunday, we did Skyline Caverns and Shenandoah Caverns. One of the Skyline features is an area where crystals have grown. As we understood the science, there was a closed chamber in which subsidence of the floor left a partial vacuum, conditions that facilitate crystal growth. The technical term is anthodites and this one of the few places in the world they are found.

Skyline Caverns had fewer large formations and large rooms than the other caves we saw, but its passageways were more interesting, gave you more of the feeling of walking through cracks in the earth's subsurface. Kind of like those slot canyons aboveground in Utah. It was also more natural, there was more walking on actual cave floor rather than constructed walkways.

The sideshow here was a hall of mirrors. Feel your way along, hands extended, so you don't run into a mirror. Sometimes you see your own reflection; others you see your fellow explorers and have to figure real or reflection? We had fun there, too, but thought the effect would have been greater with more people in there, not just us four.

Shenandoah Caverns are the most developed -- it's Virginia's only cave with an elevator and tons of gravel have been hauled in to form walkways that put you at a better viewing level than nature provided. Shenandoah also gets the award for best use of lighting -- oohs and aahs as lights are suddenly switched on revealing all sorts of formations and colors. One notable formation, "once featured by National Geographic," is a pair of bacon slices, seen here. For scale, they're about four feet in length.

The caverns we toured had enough differences that all were interesting, but there were some similarities: all occasionally are the sites for weddings (especially Luray, with its musical stalactites), all the tour guides can find formations that (sort of) resemble alligators, camels, elephants, and cartoon characters. One recorded message was a little strange: Man has defiled God's planet with buildings of steel and glass, but down here underground is still God's realm just as He designed it. Then they turned out the lights on us!?

We finished up our weekend with a short drive on Skyline Drive. Very cold and windy up there so we didn't tarry long. Drove back to Luray for dinner.

Monday the kids headed home. We had a great time -- proved we could all stay in TuziTwo, so we'll do it again some time, some where.

We stuck around for a day of laundry, travel prep, and blogging. Very slow, weak wi-fi connection at this campground, so I may not get this posted until our next stop.

Late in the day Susie and I took a very nice drive, exploring some of the farm roads around here. "I just love these kinds of roads," said Susie -- for both of us.