A Day of Adventures in the Shenandoah Valley

In dire need to escape the hustle and bustle of D.C., we took a day trip to Luray, VA.  Luray is about an hour and a half Southwest of where we live and is home to the Luray Caverns.  Parts of the drive were so picturesque that it seemed like we were driving through a Bob Ross painting.  We stopped to eat a late breakfast at "Uncle Buck's Restaurant" in downtown Luray.  If any of you have seen the movie "Uncle Buck"...Josh couldn't wait to get inside and see if there was a John Candy look-a-like flipping giant pancakes with a snow shovel.  He ordered their Home-style Omelet (eggs, lump crab meat, cheese, topped with Old Bay seasoning).  Not an ideal flavor combination if you ask me, but he ate every last bit of it.

Luray Caverns is a U.S. National Landmark and was discovered in 1878.  The lowest point of the caverns is 260 feet below the surface.  The tour is self-guided with the assistance of headsets that allow you to listen to audio recordings about the different sections of the cavern.  The caverns maintain a fairly even temperature of 54 degrees year round.  One of our favorite formations were the Totem Poles. 

The star attraction is the Great Stalacpipe Organ.  Small rubber mallets tap stalactites in the adjoining caverns and it produces hauntingly beautiful music.  It took 36 years to perfect "the world's largest musical instrument."  While we were there some electrical wires that run between the lights shorted out and we had to navigate our way through one of the caverns in the dark.  Thankfully we were with a group of people that all had cellphones and we used the light of the screens to guide us through to the next area.  Talk about an adventure!  There was actually a home built above one of the caverns and they dug a small access hole to the cavern underneath the building.  They used a generator to pump cool air from the caves into the building to keep it cool in the summer.  America's first air-conditioned home! 

On the way home we took a bit of a detour and drove part of Skyline Drive along the top of the Blue Ridge Mountains through Shenandoah National Park.  Every few miles there is an overlook where you can pull over and admire the view.  I was really hoping to see a black bear, but the only animals that crossed our path were a couple of deer.  The maximum speed limit through the park is 35 mph, however Josh couldn't resist the urge to drive Indy Car-style through some of the turns.  We're looking forward to going back to the park to do some hiking or canoeing. 

One thing I haven't seen in the 4 months we've been here...COWS.  One of my friend's husbands told us that if I had a hankering to see some cows we just needed to drive West on HWY 66 and sooner or later there would be cows.  Well, he didn't lie.  And yes, I rolled down the window and moo'd.  :)  It's the little things that remind you of home.

We're hoping to do many more day/weekend trips now that the weather is nice.  If any of you have a suggestion for us - something in the WV, NC, VA, DE, MA, PA areas, leave us a comment and we'll add it to our to-do list of adventures.