At the end of our day in the Shenandoahs, we headed home but stopped in Luray Caverns. Luray is just to the west of the park, in the valley that Jackson used to his tactical advantage during the Civil War. I’ve been hearing about these caves since I moved here thirty years ago but have never been inspired enough to take the plunge. Ow. But, time was on our side yesterday so we stopped. We apparently picked one of those rare times when there aren’t many people about. One of the “cave rangers” told us that normally, during his time of year, the crowds were shoulder-to-shoulder in the caves and soft of moving along like a river of people. When we were there, not so, in fact we were able to really take our time and look at the wonders of this place. We all thought about what discovery might have been like and how amazed those first explorers must have been. I only took one lens, my very wide angle, so there are no “distant” shots. The one below is actually a panorama of the reflecting pond. I’m all about reflections of course, and so I found this place quite fascinating. I’m probably the millionth person to take a picture of the reflections. In real life…up close and personal…I felt like I was looking into a fascinating world below the surface, JJ Rowling’s “Harry Potter” couldn’t hold a candle to the world I imagined looking into the pond. But…I also thought the preppers would really like a place like this and that there was a little cheesiness that leaked over into the wonder. But that’s not a complaint, just an observation.

At the end of our day in the Shenandoahs, we headed home but stopped in Luray Caverns. Luray is just to the west of the park, in the valley that Jackson used to his tactical advantage during the Civil War. I’ve been hearing about these caves since I moved here thirty years ago but have never been inspired enough to take the plunge. Ow. But, time was on our side yesterday so we stopped. We apparently picked one of those rare times when there aren’t many people about. One of the “cave rangers” told us that normally, during his time of year, the crowds were shoulder-to-shoulder in the caves and soft of moving along like a river of people. When we were there, not so, in fact we were able to really take our time and look at the wonders of this place. We all thought about what discovery might have been like and how amazed those first explorers must have been. I only took one lens, my very wide angle, so there are no “distant” shots. The one below is actually a panorama of the reflecting pond. I’m all about reflections of course, and so I found this place quite fascinating. I’m probably the millionth person to take a picture of the reflections. In real life…up close and personal…I felt like I was looking into a fascinating world below the surface, JJ Rowling’s “Harry Potter” couldn’t hold a candle to the world I imagined looking into the pond. But…I also thought the preppers would really like a place like this and that there was a little cheesiness that leaked over into the wonder. But that’s not a complaint, just an observation.

At the end of our day in the Shenandoahs, we headed home but stopped in Luray Caverns. Luray is just to the west of the park, in the valley that Jackson used to his tactical advantage during the Civil War. I’ve been hearing about these caves since I moved here thirty years ago but have never been inspired enough to take the plunge. Ow. But, time was on our side yesterday so we stopped. We apparently picked one of those rare times when there aren’t many people about. One of the “cave rangers” told us that normally, during his time of year, the crowds were shoulder-to-shoulder in the caves and soft of moving along like a river of people. When we were there, not so, in fact we were able to really take our time and look at the wonders of this place. We all thought about what discovery might have been like and how amazed those first explorers must have been. I only took one lens, my very wide angle, so there are no “distant” shots. The one below is actually a panorama of the reflecting pond. I’m all about reflections of course, and so I found this place quite fascinating. I’m probably the millionth person to take a picture of the reflections. In real life…up close and personal…I felt like I was looking into a fascinating world below the surface, JJ Rowling’s “Harry Potter” couldn’t hold a candle to the world I imagined looking into the pond. But…I also thought the preppers would really like a place like this and that there was a little cheesiness that leaked over into the wonder. But that’s not a complaint, just an observation.