I realized the other day for the first time that I have expended more effort to experience travel destinations across oceans and continents than I have where I call home. I don’t fully understand this phenomena but I may change this with the help of my children. I have learned to appreciate the simplicity of enriching weekend jaunts with my son and daughter who couldn’t care less where they are as long as they are enjoying themselves with Mom and Dad. In my quest for low maintenance weekend travel experiences (see my previous story about “Reality Camping”), I am learning that attractions and activities near where I live are no less rewarding than in another continent.
I have also found these experiences to be profoundly memorable when I visit an attraction from my childhood. It encompassed a time and social strata when out-of-town travel was a luxury and an overnight weekend jaunt was worthy of a Lowell Thomas travelogue – yet, in some ways, the experience possessed a simplistic quality overshadowing that of exotic lands. With the high degree of mobility today, I wonder if, years from now, writers will describe nostalgic travel memories of jetting to the Mediterranean with their parents?
Luray Caverns in the renowned Shenandoah Valley of rural Virginia recently topped off my itinerary down memory lane. Although easily experienced in a single day and only a couple of hours from Washington, DC, I recommend exploring this childhood retreat in the Blue Ridge of the Appalachian Mountains as a very relaxing weekend overnighter. The best time to go for scenery is in fall so as to combine the jaunt with the turning leaves but this also attracts a lot of city traffic. Discovered by accident in 1878 and studied by the Smithsonian Institution, this natural marvel was designated a Registered Natural Landmark by the National Park Service and the Department of the Interior and is a staple of East Coast site seeing. Isolated but not far away, the caverns are located in Luray, a small town out of a Norman Rockwell painting. In fact the only thing to do in the area is to see the local attractions.
Rich with scientific oddity and geologic riches, Luray caverns will fascinate children of all ages. Although I had visited the Caverns in the sixties as a child (quick, do the math), I finally learned this time exactly how the caverns were formed, that formations continue to form at a rate of one cubic inch per 120 years and the differences between the formations (a stalactite is from the ceiling and a stalagmite is from the floor). The guided tour is very efficient and allows little opportunity for monotony. My favorite parts were the playing of the “stalacpipe organ” and when all the interior lighting is briefly extinguished. The organ is an amazing example of patient tinkering and ingenuity. A musical piano-like keyboard is wired to electro-magnetically propelled “hammers” fastened to stalactites of exact pitch so when activated, the necessary note is heard. The inventor, a scientist at the Pentagon, spent untold hours in 1954 locating the formations with the exact pitch by trial and error. Those were the days when people actually had spare time. While still fascinating, the haunting door bell-like notes seemed to be more rich and amazing from my childhood.
Having the tour group stand around while the lights are turned off may seem mundane on the surface, but the experience will profoundly demonstrate the amount of “light pollution” our eyes our accustomed to in the big city. For many it is the very first time they experience true and total darkness – a very strange and intriguing disruption to the senses. One might compare it to a weightless sensation without the weightless. Be sure to take a sweater or jacket even in the summer – the temperature is in the 50s all year round. In fact, the Caverns were once leased in 1901 for a sanitarium, the first air-conditioned dwelling in America, by installing a shaft and fan motor into a cavern chamber which was connected to the house above.
After the tour, let your kids run wild in the attraction’s one-acre ornamental garden maze next door. Mom and Dad might also enjoy this clever challenge of pathways with eight-foot tall evergreen walls leading to four strategic checkpoints. I had trouble finding one of them and wound up having a nice exercise experience keeping up with my squealing children as they confronted the dead ends at full running speed. Finish the experience by poking your head into the antique Car and Carriage Caravan Museum next door. You will expect to walk through fairly quickly but will find yourself unexpectedly pausing more and more wondering about those who rode and owned the impeccably preserved horseless carriages. Some of the memorable highlights include a 1892 Benz still in operating condition, a Conestoga Wagon, a 1908 Baker Electric, a 1913 Stanley Steamer, Rudolph Valentino’s 1925 Rolls Royce, Model Ts, motorcycles, farm machinery and gangster getaway cars. I not only appreciated this virtual time machine as a gear head but I also found the machinery as an effective venue for American history appreciation.
The next day, explore the Shenandoah’s famous Skyline Drive or the George Washington National Forest on the way home. This scenic highway, nine miles from Luray and part of the U. S. Park system, rides the crest of the Blue Ridge Mountains for 105 miles interspersed with overlooks, hiking trails and the largest concentration of North American black bear. If the fall crowds are inhibiting, explore the George Washington National Forest – the largest publicly owned land base for recreation in the eastern United States. With over 100 developed recreational sites, overlooks, streams and pristine woodlands, your remaining hours will seem all too short. Do not be surprised if, on your low maintenance drive home, you are already planning your next weekend adventure.
Contacts
Luray Caverns
970 U.S. Hwy. 211 West, PO Box 748
Luray, Virginia 22835 (540) 743-6551
http://www.luraycaverns.com
Accommodations
Luray Caverns Motel East, (540) 743-4531
Luray Caverns Motel West, (540) 743-4536
These motels can offer cozy, clean and economical family accommodations within walking distance. Don’t forget the complimentary continental breakfast next morning in the lobby.
Yogi Bear’s Jellystone Park Camp Resort
Highway 211 East, Luray, VA 22835
Phone (540) 743 – 4002
Toll Free (800) 420 – 6679
Email yogi@campluray.com
Go to http://www.campluray.com for everything you want to know about the most fun kids can have camping while in the area – a weekend vacation unto itself.
Shenandoah National Park and Skyline Drive
http://www.nps.gov/shen/
http://www.shenandoah.national-park.com/
http://www.blueridgeparkway.org
George Washington National Forest
http://www.southernregion.fs.fed.us/gwj/
Good links to other sources and things to do.
http://www.co.page.va.us/tourlink.htm Good general links to regional information.
Real Travel Adventures 