This post is a bit overdue…but a busy life can be a rewarding life…and I’m happy to have a few things to share very shortly.

Who knew that just three hours south of my hometown, people from around the world flock to an area in Northern Virginia to go spelunking.

On the surface, the ground is lush, the trees are mature, the area is filled with adorable small towns – the kinds that have lots of antique stores and ice cream shops.  Below the surface, however, is where most of the action is.

On the way down to Virginia, I was sure to be on the lookout for interesting things to see.  The goal was to travel to Luray and see the caverns.  I was stunned to find out that Luray was a hot spot for international travelers…who knew?

I also didn’t realize that there are handfuls of caverns in that area of Virginia.  The scenic byway (Skyline Drive) is also not to be missed.  It does cost $20, but the ticket is good for a week or so, which came in useful.  On a beautiful, sunny day, it was awesome to wind around the curvy road, pulling off to take some photos, seeing other tourists from all over the world.

Not far from the scenic byway is Skyline Caverns.  It was a nice, unexpected excursion.  Originally, the first day of the weekend was going to just be a travel day to get to the hotel in New Market.  We were going to see Luray the next day and drive home the day after that.  However, with so much to do at our fingertips, I was pretty excited that we were able to do so much more than expected.

Skyline caverns was a great way to get a taste of what was to come.  The tour group was a decent size and our guide was friendly, knowledgeable and entertaining.

The next day we made our way over to Luray Caverns.  We happened to be there over Memorial Day weekend, but no matter when you go, I’d suggest getting there super early to get a good place in line.  There were no assigned reservation times, so I wanted to get there early while waiting in line would be more comfortable, and get onto one of the first tours.  (The line wraps around the building and down the sidewalk, so waiting in the mid-day sun would have been uncomfortable.)

Our tactic worked! We were on the second tour and we were able to have our awesome cavern tour (which includes a hymn on the famous cavern organ) in no time.  After the tour, we had a snack, looked around the gift shop and then decided to head on to another adventure.

We passed a little town square filled with tents, like for a craft show just a few miles away.  I guess many things were happening for the holiday weekend, so we strolled around talking to all the artisans.  I picked up some homemade body scrub before making my way over to the pulled pork BBQ stand.

With a full belly and plenty of time to spare, we decided to check out Endless caverns as well.  There really were many to choose from, but Endless was on the way back to our hotel, so that was an easy choice for us.

The tour was a bit smaller and it was nice to have more time to take pics and look around.  The compound itself was also nice, perched on a hill, surrounded by nature, near a campground.  Everything in this area seemed to be family and pet-friendly.