Thursday, April 21, 2022
Luray Caverns, Woodstock Tower
Luray Singing Tower in Carillon Park
Every time we cruise through Virginia on I-81, we pass billboards for Luray Caverns, and I mention that I want to go there someday. Well, today was finally the day! Luray Caverns is the largest and most visited caverns in the United States. It's positively packed with fabulous features and formations. Go see for yourself!
Finally!
Dripping with stalactites
The tour through the caverns is self-guided, so you can go at your own pace, without having to keep to a group. We've toured a lot of caves and were glad to be spared yet another explanation of the difference between a stalactite and a stalagmite. (You can look it up.)
Cool columns
Mirror reflection in Dream Lake
Whoops!
The looping path through the cave is about a mile and a half long. By some kind of illusion, it seemed like we walked downhill the entire time we were in there, yet we eventually emerged where started. How did that happen?
Fried Eggs - Rub for good luck
Spooky Tom
Entrance to Luray Caverns is $32, but with a Martin's or Giant rewards card, you can get half off a second ticket. Included in the price is admission to three museums located on site: Toy Town Junction, Shenandoah Heritage Village, and the Car & Carriage Caravan Museum. The toy museum was a five-minute affair. We moved right on to the village.
Free admission with caverns ticket
The Shenandoah Heritage Village consists of several historic structures representing a farming community of the 1800s. The small Luray Valley Museum at the entrance of the village contains some interesting items, such as a dog-powered butter churn. The majority of the village buildings themselves weren't terribly intriguing, but with the mountains in the background, the scene was stunning.
Dog-powered butter churn - Bosco would balk
Shenandoah Heritage Village
Lovely location
Lastly, we entered the Car & Carriage Caravan Museum. Not being car fanatics, we had low expectations, but it was incredible! The museum starts with horse-drawn wagons and coaches, showcases a few steam-powered contraptions, passes through a series of simple early automobiles, and then moves on to some luxurious and unlikely automobiles produced in the 1930s and '40s.
Mid-1700s Berlin Coupe de Galla
1840 Conestoga Wagon
1900 Manchester Locomotive Works Steam Pumper Fire Engine
1915 Ford Model T Touring
1932 Rolls Royce 20/25
There were cars I'd never heard of and others I've only read about in private-eye novels, like a Locomobile Speedster and a Morgan sports car. Now I know what Clive Cussler was referring to in his Isaac Bell adventures!
1914 Locomobile Model 48 Speedster
1931 Morgan Super Sports 3-wheeler
The car museum is jam-packed with historically significant and extremely rare vehicles - some of them one-of-a-kind. It is also home to the oldest automobile in operating condition on display in America, the Benz Vis-a-Vis, produced in 1898!
Last but not least: 1898 Benz Vis-a-Vis
Midafternoon, we arrived at Woodstock Tower, outside Fort Valley, Virginia. The tower is a few hundred yards up a dirt path from a small parking area. It's only 40 feet tall, but that's enough to raise you above the treetops for panoramic views of Fort Valley and the Shenandoah Valley and River.
Woodstock Tower trailhead
Woodstock Tower
Fort Valley
Shenandoah Valley and the Shenandoah River
Later, we chanced upon the entertaining spectacle of Dinosaur Land Gift Shop and Theme Park in White Post, Virginia. This throwback roadside attraction boasts over 50 life-size dinosaurs, as well as a saber tooth tiger, King Kong, a gigantic shark, and an enormous octopus. We didn't go in but just enjoyed what we could see from the parking lot.
Dinosaur Land!
Fierce 50-foot shark
Eye-catching 90-foot octopus
Tonight we stayed in Charles Town, West Virginia. We had dinner downtown at Abolitionist Ale Works, a real heart-buster meal of pizza and a cheesy chicken flatbread. Fun bar, but they only had one beer that interested us, so we soon moved on.
Abolitionist Ale Works
Time to refuel
On the outskirts of Martinsburg, West Virginia, is a unique taphouse called Pedalin Pints, located inside Eastern Panhandle Bicycle Company. A bar inside of a bike shop? Our kind of place! They have 12 craft brews on tap, plus canned and bottled beer from around the world. There was a professional-level game of cornhole going on when we arrived, and had we been there the next night, we could have thrown axes!
Pedalin Pints Craft Brew Pub
Perfect pub
Lodging: Days Inn, Charles Town, West Virginia. Another super-cheap, comfortable hotel.
|