Lindsey and Patrick outside Luray Caverns

Lindsey surprised me with a road trip to Luray Caverns for the holiday weekend. She kept it a secret most the way along the trip. I finally figured it out when we started taking back roads, and the signs became quite obvious.

I’m no stranger to caves. I’ve spent most my life in Missouri, which is also known as the Cave State. As a kid I remember the family driving to Branson, Missouri for vacation, and part of that time was touring Marvel Cave. Over the years, I’ve visited Meramec Caverns and several smaller caves. In high school I manned up with the Science Club one day to go spelunking, which is exploring wild non-commercial caves–the only light is the one on your hat, and you end up throwing out your clothes because they get completely ruined with all the muck.  Ever heard of a restaurant inside a cave? I’ve done that, too. Lindsey’s family had a birthday celebration there. It’s called the Cave Restaurant and Resort located in Richland, Missouri. Here’s the yearbook photo from spelunking back in 1990:

So, back to current day. After waiting in line for about a half hour (enough for me to get a deep dark lobster tan), we walked through the hour-long tour inside the underground cavern. Lots of stalactites, stalagmites, mirrored pools, and we even heard the Stalacpipe Organ–an organ that produces the striking of stalactites of various sizes to produce tones to create music. It was very crowded, but we took our time making frequent stops. It was the perfect place to play with our new Nikon D5100 Digital Camera. Here are a few photos:

Dream Lake, one of the reflecting pools.	Stalactites.
The Great Stalacpipe Organ, a console that produces the tapping of the stalactites.	The stalactites are struck with rubber mallets to produce the tube sound. There are 37 of these throughout the cave.
Saracen's Tent, one of the most perfectly formed stone drapery structures in the world.	Stalactites drop from the ceiling. Stalagmites grow from the ground.

We had intentions of visiting a nearby winery, but they closed at 6:00pm, so instead we stopped by a local restaurant called Griffin Tavern in Flint Hill, Virginia. It was a visitor-friendly atmosphere with a local feel.  I went all out with an order of hummus as an appetizer and Fish n Chips as my main meal.  By the end, I could not finish that last piece of fish or the rest of the fries. I have been on a successful diet over the past month, so this meal was quite a shock to my body.

On the trip home, Lindsey had her first experience off-roading with her car. After stopping for a few minutes to take photos of vultures (don’t ask), we trusted the GPS as it navigated us through a shortcut to I-66. That shortcut was a couple miles on a road that went from double-lane, to single-lane, to one-way; asphalt, to gravel, to dirt, driving over big tree roots and dusting up the trail behind us. At the time it was freaking Lindsey out, but when we finally reached the interstate she was thrilled to have experienced it.

Vulture Watch 2011

Trusting the GPS = off-roading

When we arrived home, Lindsey surprised me again with a deep massage, which knocked me out completely and I was barely able to make it to bed to crash for the night. I owe her one!