Places to visit in Virginia - Luray Caverns

Does exploring caves excites you?
Are you interested in knowing what lies beneath the earth?
Do you love structures which are evolving from past millions of years?

Even if your answer to all of the above questions is No, I am sure this nature’s wonder will definitely excite, thrill and will make you fall in love with it.

Luray Caverns is the largest and most popular caverns in Eastern America, situated deep beneath Virginia’s Blue Ridge Mountains.

It was discovered in 1878 and from then it has been visited by millions of tourists across the globe.

Main attractions

The main attractions here are -:
1. Luray Caverns
2. Car and Carriage Caravan Museum
3. Luray Valley Museum
4. The Garden Maze
5. Rope Adventure Park

My Experience

I took the general admission ticket which included Luray Caverns tour, a self-guided tour of the Car and Carriage Caravan and access to the Luray Valley Museum.
If you want to visit “The Garden Maze” and “Rope Adventure Park”, you will have to pay separately for them.

Coming back to Luray Caverns, I was excited to see what lies inside and here is what I saw.
Have you seen or read about limestone, marble or gypsum rocks or structures hanging down from the roof or towering up from the floor ? If yes, then imagine 4-5 times the size of them in real, infront of your eyes.

There will be structures from size of your hand to 10 stories high.
You will come across big cathedral sized rooms filled with countless massive crystalline cascades, towering stone columns and shimmering draperies.

Along with these magnificent structures, there are also crystal clear pools which provides a stunning reflection of these stalactites which is just magical. You won’t be able to believe that it is actually a reflection or not in real.

Finally “The Great Stalacpipe organ”, which is also one of the largest musical instruments in the world. The Great Stalacpipe Organ appears at first to be a normal organ, but instead of using pipes, the organ is wired to soft rubber mallets poised to gently strike stalactites of varying lengths and thicknesses.

Last but not the least, the wishing well. Wishing well are always considered as magical, bringing luck and good fortune. The 6 foot deep pool at Luray Caverns is no less. More than 1 million dollars have been donated to charities till date and the funds are ever increasing. I also dropped a dollar and waiting for some magic to happen ;)

Tickets & Fees
The general admission ticket is $28 for an adult which includes Luray Caverns tour, a self-guided tour of the Car and Carriage Caravan and access to the Luray Valley Museum.

Connectivity
The Luray Caverns is very well connected and easily accessible.
Also there is lot of parking space available.

Food
There are couple of cafés inside the campus so you can have a meal there.

Stay
Luray Caverns is just 25 miles from the town of Front Royal where there are a lot of decent motels available.

Now time for some gyan from Explorer Lens
1. Trying going a bit early so that you can take good pictures of the magnificent structures, otherwise
    there will be always people popping in.
2. If you are using a DSLR, trying using an external flash to get better pics of the stalactites.
3. You can cover both Skyline drive of Shenandoah National Park and Luray Caverns on a single day
    and avoid paying for an extra day of your stay.

 Here are some funny and unique structures that I found here -:

Do you think its a dog ?

Do you see a face here, probably some babaji ?

How would these two work as the front pillars of your house ?

Would you mind having them as the chandeliers in your house ? 

Continue Reading..

Places to visit in Virginia - Shenandoah National Park

In my last post, I talked about my visit to Virginia Safari Park, which is one of the top attractions in Virginia. If you have missed it, please check out that post here.

So after a successful, memorable and fun trip of the Safari Park, it was time to visit the top natural destination of Virginia, “Shenandoah National Park”.

Shenandoah National Park lies along the Blue Ridge Mountains in north-central Virginia.
The park stretches for 105 miles along the scenic Skyline Drive from near the town of Front Royal in the northeast to near the city of Waynesboro in the southwest.

Main Attractions
The main attractions of the park are -:
1. Skyline Drive
2. Hiking
3. Camping
4. Waterfalls
5. Wildlife, which includes deer, black bears, foxes, birds and other animals.

My experience
I started the scenic drive from the northern entry point of the Park, which is situated near the town of Front Royal.
The entry fee is $25 per vehicle and is valid for a week from the start date.

We got a map which had the information about different scenic points where you can stop your vehicle and enjoy the endless natural beauty of the lush green mountains

As it was sunset time so I was very excited to get some stunning view of the Park and I was not at all disappointed. The sky was covered with layers of orange, blue and white, and the sun rays falling on the mountains covered in the blanket of green, made the whole view breathtaking.

We drove for around 20 miles and experienced the stunning views but now it was time for something else, the “FOG”.
Yes, as we drove ahead the endless fog welcomes us and the visibility at some points became just nil.
Driving through the fog was like sailing through a cloud, a lifetime experience indeed.

We took a U turn from 30 miles as it was getting dark and too much foggy.

And last but not the least, we were fortunate to see the wildlife too.
There were two instances of spotting a black bear, one when an adult black bear was crossing the road and the second was of a young one ambling on the sides of the road.
We also saw a deer and a different species of bird which was of a size of a vulture.

It was definitely a successful, super thrilling, adventurous, beautiful and memorable visit to “Shenandoah National Park”.

Tickets & Fees
The entry fee for the park is $25 for a car for 7 days.

Connectivity
The Skyline has two entry points, one near the town of Front Royal in the northeast and other one near the city of Waynesboro in the southwest.

Food
There are no food junctions, cafes, restaurants or any facility where you can get food.

Stay
I was staying in the town of Front Royal where there are a lot of decent motels available. Also there are lodges along the skyline drive.

Now time for some gyan from Explorer Lens
1. Visit the park during either sunset or sunrise to experience those amazing views.
2. It gets foggy in the evening so plan your visit accordingly.
3. Don’t plan for the complete 105 miles stretch of the Skyline, until you are not short of time.
    As the speed limit is only 35 miles/hr so it will easily take you 5 hours to cover the complete
    stretch.
4. There are black bears all over the park, so if you are planning for camping or hiking, do take all the
    safety measures beforehand.

Continue Reading..

Best places to visit in Virginia - Virginia Safari Park

There are few states in USA which can be considered as synonym to natural beauty and Virginia is one of them. It can be also called the natural jewel of the USA Eastern Coast.

"Virginia is for Lovers" is the state's tourism slogan and it holds true in many ways.
Whether you are a wildlife lover or nature lover, a mountain lover or beach lover, history lover or wine lover, this places has something for everyone which will make them fall in love with it.

We were quite excited about our trip to Virginia and were all set to experience some of the world famous places, which are a must visit if you are travelling to Virginia and are not short on time.
Below are the top five places to visit in Virginia -:
    1. Shenandoah National Park
    2. Luray Caverns
    3. Virginia Safari Park
    4. Virginia Beach
    5. If you love wine and history, visit towns like Williamsburg, Charlottesville, Richmond and
        Fredericksburg.

We started our tour of Virginia from Virginia Safari Park, which is a 180-acre drive-through zoo located in Natural Bridge, VA. It is a great place for people of all ages.

There are 4 main things to do here -:

1. Safari Drive thru
    This is the main attraction of the Safari Park.
    You can drive your vehicle in the three miles of maintained gravel road with over 1000 animals
    running and roaming around freely. There will be yalks, bisons , elks, ostriches, rheas, oryxs,
    blackbucks, more than 6 types of deer, antelopes, llamas, watusi and many more animals coming
    to your vehicle for the food and you can feed them the specialty grain which is provided by the
    park. You are not allowed to feed your own food.

    

There are other animals like Zebras, Rhinos, Giraffes and Camels which are also seen in drive thru
    but they are inside the fence and not allowed to room freely, may be because of the security 

    reasons. The interaction with animals, watching them from so close and especially feeding huge 

     animals like yalk, bison or elk is a lifetime experience.

    If you don’t want to take your own vehicle inside, there are safari owned wagons where you can
     get a seat for $6.5.

Check out from videos from the Drive Thru -:

                                           

                                           

2. Budgie Adventure Aviary
     If you are a bird lover, especially of those small colorful ones, than this is the place for you.
     You can walk in this free-flight aviary and there will be many colorful budgies flying and  

     roaming all around. You can feed them with the Budgie feed sticks which you can get at the gift 

     shops for $1.5 each.

     There are more than 6 types of colorful budgies, parrots and cocks here.
     Feeding these amazing creatures, especially when the gentle and vivid colored budgies perch on
      your hand, is simply incredible.

 
3. Giraffe Feeding
    What is it like getting close to and feeding a 20 feet animal? Well in most of the cases it will be
     thrill, excitement and an experience of a lifetime. Giraffe feeding to me is something amazing and 

     I would definitely recommend it to all my readers.

    You can get lettuce pack for $4.5 at the feeding point.

                                         

   

4. Safari Village walk thru
    There is another part of the park other than the Safari drive thru which is equally awesome, The
     Safari Village walk thru. 

    It is divided into different territories -:
    1. Tiger Territory, where you will get to see the great Bengal Tiger from India.

    2. Kangaroo Walk about, where you can walk through the enclosure with Kangaroos hopping
        around and lying in the sun.

    3. Reptile house, where you can watch snakes and dragons crawling.

    4. Petting area, where you can feed goats, pigs, chickens and baby llamas.
    5. I personally loved the cute monkeys doing somersaults and having fun. 

    

6. Apart from the above ones there are many other animal also like wolves, penguins,
     cheetahs and big tortoises.

7. Do check out the vultures there who believe in living life king size.

Tickets & Fees
The entry fee for the park is $25 for an adult

Connectivity

Easily accessible and has lot of free parking space available.

Food

There is café inside where you will get a variety of options to satisfy your hunger.

Stay
There are hotels available in vicinity but they are a bit costly, I would suggest to go for Airbnb so that you can get a homely feeling in reasonable price.

Now time for some gyan from Explorer Lens
1. If you are looking to photograph and feed the animals, it is advisable to take the wagon instead of
    taking your own car because you will be busy driving and have to be more cautious because of
    animals coming from all around.
    Also with wagon ticket you get the bucket of grains free while individually it costs around 

    $4/bucket.
2. The animals are fresh and energetic in the morning so plan to go before 12 p.m. so that you get to
     have the max interaction.
3. Keep some quarters handy as there are lot of feeding machines which accepts only quarters.

Here are few more pics and videos from the Drive Thru, hope you will enjoy them.

                                           

Continue Reading..