Cavernous

On Saturday we went to Luray Caverns with some friends. I will admit up front that I wasn't seriously excited about it beyond looking forward to the trek into the countryside - because I am (well, was) a cavern snob. See, I grew up going to Carlsbad Caverns, which are some of the best caverns open to the public and when we first moved to this area (when I was in elementary school) we went to Luray and it's just way more commercialized than Carlsbad. Which made it seem, well, less cool. (If you look at the two sites and compare, Carlsbad doesn't allow children under 3, no strollers, etc. It's much more of a rugged caving experience. Luray has bricked pathways and encourages you to take your stroller.)

I will hereby admit that I enjoyed Luray quite a bit and can definitely see us going back. Because it's actually a pretty good cave experience -- and it's much more child-friendly (reference that they allow children for starters and that they're really cool about strollers as a second). Beyond that, they have some very nice formations that are well lit without being crass and the tour guides interspersed along the trek through the cave have short, interesting tidbits of information to offer. My only complaint is that it was amazingly crowded - though when we were leaving it looked even more crowded, so we actually got off pretty easy. Still, there were some places that bottleneck a little and the impatient people behind us were very unwilling to tolerate the oohing and ahhing of our friend's five-year-old and her friend. (Seriously people, if you're touring a cave, why are you trying to race? Just look around and enjoy the experience!)

There is also a hedge maze. That was quite a bit of fun (though the walking kids were getting worn out by about 1/2 way through) - and they had misters here and there to keep you from dying in the amazingly un-shaded areas (You'd think in a maze of hedges 10 feet or so tall that you wouldn't be at risk for heat-stroke. You'd be wrong.)

All in all, it was a very fun day-trip that everyone seemed to enjoy immensely. We'll definitely have to go back when Joshua is a little older and can appreciate the formations better. I have only a few photos because our camera battery died about six pictures into the cave. Typical. (Then again...they all would've looked a lot like this one anyway.)