WOW… Luray Caverns!

August 23, 2019

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Well Mummy and Daddy just went to see a REALLY COOL tourist attraction here in Luray, Virginia yesterday… so I need to tell you lots of stuff about the place. It is called “Luray Caverns” and man that place has it going over there! They have the caverns, a toy museum, a vintage car museum and an outdoor maze… all for one ticket price! Now, here is the really interesting part… THEY ARE DOGGIE FRIENDLY! YES… you are allowed to CARRY your small doggie INTO THE CAVERNS or if it is a service doggie they can WALK ON A LEASH. Regular doggies CANNOT WALK ON LEASHES. They have kennel facilities for bigger doggies because they don’t want anyone leaving doggies in the hot cars!! That is BAD!  You can bring little doggies in the caverns in a stroller if it is a SMALL STROLLER but there are fragile stone objects to be careful of, and you are in a large tour group of about 35-40 people who are all trying to listen to the guide at the FRONT of the group, soooooo…. Mummy decided not to take us. BOY, was she glad she made the right move on that one! There was a baby in their group that screamed and hollered for half the tour making it IMPOSSIBLE to hear with his screams echoing all over that cave, and then there were two 8-10 year old girls who were playing tag with each other, squealing and laughing and running in and out of the group… while their mom pretended to not know who they were. All of the other visitors were telling the girls to please behave and go stand with their parents… it was mayhem! Mummy said if we had been there she KNOWS the girls would have been crowded around our stroller wanting to play with us and making us BARK… with our BARKING then echoing everywhere! At one point they reached a stalagmite (those grow up from the floor) in the middle of a narrow path and she and Daddy looked at each other and both said, “OMG, the stroller would have NEVER FIT around that thing!” ???? And many of the paths along the 1 1/2 mile tour took a steep upward trajectory which Mummy said would have been pretty strenuous on Daddy to push us up such steep hills for so long!!! ????? So in the end, they were VERY GLAD they left us at the AIRSTREAM to take a nap. If you only have ONE PUP to carry, then no problem…. but Mummy DOES NOT ADVISE TAKING A STROLLER IN THERE!!! And if your pup is a BARKER… leave them at home… they will be disruptive to the large group like those misbehaving children were.

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Now… let me tell you about the caverns because you should try and see them! Mummy and Daddy were thrilled that they went! They are the 3rd most visited caverns in the USA, with about 500,000 visitors each year. They were discovered in 1878 by 5 local men who found a huge limestone outcropping near a sinkhole that had cool air coming from below. Thinking that a cavern might be there, they started digging… and 4 hours later, they had created a hole big enough for the smallest of the men to squeeze through and explore by only candlelight! Later, they discovered some bone fragments embedded in the calcite, and other traces of human life, like charcoal and flint, was found embedded in some of the stalagmite.

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Luray Caverns holds many natural wonders, such as: columns, mud flows, stalactites (these formations form from the ceiling, downward), stalagmites (these formations form from the floor, upward), flowstone and mirrored pools. The caverns are best known for their “Great Stalacpipe Organ” that taps into stalactites of various sizes to produce tones similar to a xylophone, tuning fork or bells… which makes a musical sound! They actually gave a demonstration of this and it was amazing. ??

The tour stopped alongside a shallow body of water called “Dream Lake.” The surface of the water reflected the formations that hung just above it, giving it an eerie optical illusion. It appeared to be very deep but the tour guide said it was about 2” at its most shallow and 20” at its deepest parts. Further along the 1 1/2 mile path was a “Wishing Well” where you were allowed to toss in coins and make a wish. The coins are later collected and donated to charities. From 2011-2017 they donated $282,335 from just the money that came from this Wishing Well!!!

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The temperature in the cavern is a cool 54 degrees all the time, so make sure to wear a light jacket when you come. We were educated on the color variations in the rocks and told that the yellow, brown and red colors are from minerals in the earth that seep into the water.  The red and yellow is from iron. All of the formations in the caverns are calcite, which is a crystalline form of limestone. Calcite in its purest form is naturally white, and “Titania’s Veil” is the perfect example of this pure calcite.  To put all of these formations into perspective, the tour guide told the group that it take 120 years to form just 1 cubic INCH of rock… and then he told everyone to look at the SIZE of some of the formations. The caverns are estimated to be MILLIONS OF YEARS OLD!!! Along the way the guide pointed out spots of GREEN that were growing on some of the formations, and even on spots on the ceilings. He said the color GREEN is not something that they expected to find in the caverns and when it was finally tested, it was found to be MOLD. They discovered that we, the visitors, were bringing microscopic mold spores into the caves on our clothing and it was being released into the humid air once inside the caves. One way that they try and control any further damage to the rocks is to limit the amount of LIGHT that they receive, so all of the lighting is set on timers. As a tour moves through an area, the lights behind them go OFF, so the tour guide warns everyone to stick together, lest you be left behind in the DARK… all alone. He said that after 2 weeks alone in total darkness a person will go mad… and after 3 weeks in total darkness, you will go blind!!! Mummy and Daddy inched up closer to the middle of the group at this point. YIKES! ???

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As they entered a room called the Giant’s Hall, there stood the best example of a stalactite and stalagmite coming together to meet in what is called the “Double Column.” It stands 47 feet tall and is the tallest one in the caves. Everyone could be heard whispering their “favorite” type of formation, and Mummy said that hers was the “Drapery Formation” because it was soooo elegant the way the rock just rippled over and really looked like the folds of a real drapery! The rock is only about 1/8” thick in places and their guide said that you can hold a candle behind one of the thin folds and actually see all of the layers that make up the folds!!!! WOW! Can you believe how COOL NATURE IS?!?!?! The guide told them that Luray Caverns is still an ACTIVE cave, which means it is still growing and forming. Every so often Mummy felt a “drip” on her head or another “drip” run down her face. The guide said these “drips” were droplets falling from the ceiling and were “kisses” from the cave… a sign that you would have good luck for 1 year for each kiss. Mummy whispered to Daddy that she was “all kissed up” and needed to dry off when they got back to the car! ??? They finished the tour by seeing a memorial that was dedicated to all of the men and women from the area who had lost their lives fighting for our country. The Luray Caverns tour was just a very professionally done tour where everyone learned so much. Try and stop by and see it if you are ever near here… you will be glad you did. ?❤️???