Time to head back into the wilderness. We departed Cleveland, Ohio and drove about 7 hours to our first stop in Virginia. We both have driving through VA a million times, and in fact lived in VA for a whole year. But there is still plenty of things that we wanted to do and see there. Every time we drive home to PA we see signs for all of this stuff and always say “We should stop there some time”. Well, now is the time! Our first stop was the Luray Caverns which we got to around 4:30pm on Sunday June 24th, just in time for the next tour.
A few summers ago we went to Carlsbad Caverns, and these were probably like the East Coast equivalent of them! They are the largest in the east coast. They were awesome, and while there were no bats like Carlsbad, there was the “Great Stalacpipe Organ”.
Here are a few pictures and captions to show just how awesome they were! Huge cathedral ceilings, crystal clear pools of water, and what looks like frozen limestone!
Here is the organ! It took the guy a few years to complete it and he tapped the stalactites to make the music. In the video it’s a little hard to hear but really cool in person.
There was also a wishing well. Unlike most places, you were encouraged to toss in some change. Each year they collect it all and donate it to charities.
The caves are located in Page County, VA which is pretty rural. Besides the Caverns they don’t get many visitors elsewhere in Page County. So while it might be a little off place for it, they have a little memorial to the veterans of Page County in the Caverns since they gets thousands of visitors each year.
There actually way more to do there besides just the Caverns. A few other museums, gift shop, ropes course, ice cream store. But we were a little anxious to get going to finally visit Shenandoah National Park! About and hour drive from Luray we headed to the Thornton Gap entrance of the park.
Skyline Drive is THE road that runs north-south through the park. While Thornton gap is not the northern most entrance, it puts you into the park as a pretty beautiful spot! We were pretty hungry so we stopped at the Big Meadows wayside for dinner before heading to our campground for the night.
It was a beautiful night to set up the tent and since we would be there for two nights we went all out and also set up the vestibule! We stayed at Big Meadows campground. The sites are spacious, not too close to together and there is a shower facility sort of right there (you have to drive to it but it’s near the campground and lodge). So when you enter the park they give you a map and a newsletter which has the daily ranger programs listed. We managed to get in and get our tent set up in time to make the evening ranger talk! So we walked across the campground and learned ALL ABOUT BEARS. (Which will turn out beneficial for tomorrow!)
The next morning we had a busy day, plus it was Danielle’s 33rd Birthday!
While we were camping, since it was a special occasion and since there are two super cool lodges in the park, we decided to eat there for our meals instead of noodles and rice at the campground.
The morning starts at the Big Meadow Lodge for breakfast follows by a trip to the visitor center. We spoke with a ranger there and got some ideas of what to do for the day!
So if you just like driving and pulling over for gorgeous views, this might be the park for you. There are a ton of scenic overlooks that you can pull right off and check out. We wanted to take a little hike, to the highest point in the park and get a good view of Old Rag mountain. So we did the upper Hawksbill Summit trail. The weather was great, no rain, and for the whole time we were in the park it didn’t get warmer then about 74 degrees!
Small hikes call for big lunches. That’s how the saying goes right?! We drove a little further north on Skyline Drive to the Skyland Resort for lunch. This is where they introduced us to blackberry lemonade, which will remain a theme for the rest of the day. Not to mention the chili. Something about being in a National Park wants us to eat some sort of stew or chili. So that’s just what Danielle did.
There are three types of trails at Shenandoah National Park. Hiking trails, the AT (Appalachian Trail), and Horse Trails. And what better way to see the National Park then from horseback! They offer guided trail rides from the stable and after lunch we were just in time and right there! It was meant to be. We waited for a little bit until the previous trail ride got back before we were assigned our trusty steeds. John was paired up with “Tonto” and Danielle was paired up with “Jasmine”.
A few quick instructions on the commands, what to do with the reigns and what to do if we saw wildlife, then we were off!
They warned us we might see some wildlife. Little did we know we’d hit the jackpot! We saw two wild turkeys (couldn’t get a picture of those), a couple deer, and a young black bear!! Everyone talked about how many bear were in the park and we were so excited to see one while on the trail ride!
The whole ride was about an hour long. When we got back we got to say goodbye to our horses and the others before our next stop!
There are plenty of waterfalls in the park. We wanted to check out one of the bigger ones so we planned to hike down to Dark Hollow Falls. While the whole thing is like 1.5 miles round trip, it’s considered strenuous because it’s straight down. And then straight back up with about 450ft of elevation change. But it’s worth it to see the falls!
Once again we were ready for our next meal and birthday presents. We headed back to the Big Meadows lodge (where we had breakfast) and got dinner. Fully embracing the blackberry culture, we made sure we got the blackberry ice cream for dessert! Everything was delicious.
Back at the Byrd visitor center there was an evening Ranger walk through the meadow. This time we saw a ton of deer and learned all about moths, fireflies, and some of the flowers/plants in the meadow.
What a full day!! We went back to the campsite enjoyed our last evening in the park. The next day we stopped for breakfast and a few last scenic views before we left!
So beautiful. It was a perfect trip to Shenandoah National Park. We love our western National Parks, but it’s so good to know this one is close. We’ll be back and want to go again in the fall and winter to see it change with the seasons! If you get chance you gotta check it out, even if it’s just for a drive along the Skyline drive!
We aren’t quite done with Virginia yet. We have a few historical places to check out and a few presidents to visit! Stick around for more!
Dietz Summer Road Trip 