Luray Caverns

Last Tuesday, while adventuring to Dinosaur Land, Andy and I took the time to hop over the Luray Caverns.  We'd been wanting to go on a Cave Date ever since the first time we drove out into the wilds of Virginia together.  There's a really great Antique Mall out there that I'd wanted to visit and on the way out, there were so many road signs for all the different caves in the area.  The only cave we've ever visited was a dry form cave in Texas.  Luray is very different.  I knew it was going to be huge...and unlike anything I'd ever seen before.  But I did not expect the magnitude of it all.  Along with growing up loving dinosaurs, I was really fascinated with rocks in general.  My dad used to take me to local rock shows and I'd get to pick out a favorite to add to my collection.   Geology class was one of my favorites in college.  Until we had to calculate half lives...eff that.  But I think part of the appeal to me is the idea that this stuff is so old.  The passage time coupled with mother nature can do incredible things together.

I digress!  Luray Caverns!

When you drive in, there's hedge maze, a small ropes course, an antique car museum, and couple more little eatery / toy shop places.  It's like the smallest theme park you've ever seen.  A little odd, but it works!  The entrance to the cavern showcases some artifacts from when it was first discovered and some gorgeous memorabilia from the 18–1900s.  They take small groups down every 10 mins...

This is the original entrance to the cavern.  It was a small sink hole that three guys just happened upon and started digging up.  They'd thought there might be cave.  Clearly, they were correct :P

Oh look!  A wild Husband appeared!  I love that we get to share the crazy experiences together.  These places are fun to go to, but it's really the company that makes it so special.

This was the largest body of water in the cavern.  The water was so still, it made perfect reflections of the ceiling above it.  This photo just do not do it justice.  It was breathtaking!

I think this formation was my favorite.  I need more synonyms for, "incredible".

This is the largest formation in the whole place.  See the silhouettes of the people on the bottom right?  I usually try to avoid a lot of people in my touristy photos, but I'm so glad you can really the scale from this shot!

Watch for falling jazz-hands!  I couldn't resist.

Again, the magnitude of this place.  There are so many levels that twist up and down and around.

Left: Jabba the Hutt.  Right: a fallen stalactite.  He actually fell thousands of years ago and starts growing into the formation next to him. 

This larger room housed their famous organ.  They found that flicking the formations would produce notes, so they catalogued the notes and made an organ.  Duh.  I took a quick Vine if you want to hear what it sounds like.  Also, please forgive the horrible auto-correct if you to do take a peek haha!

On the way out, in the very last tunnel, I saw this teeny drip.  This little guy is the start of something huge!  They only grow milimeters per year, so I bet this guy is older than you think.  I just thought it was so cool to go through and see formations that are immense and thousands of years old...then seeing this bitty start of something big.

 If you ever have the chance, definitely check out Luray Caverns.  Check out their site and plan a trip!