Shenandoah Valley + Luray Caverns + New Market

We almost made it a day without doing anything civil war related. 😉


Koen is much more into nature than I am and he loves photography, so we

decided to do the Skyline drive today through the Shenandoah Valley. So today I am going to use his photos. Again not something I had never done before, my first time here was October 1993. Maybe that spoilt it for me for coming back in any other time of year as however beautiful it is, I was underwhelmed. I remembered the spectacular fall colours of that first visit. And I have to admit that I am someone who usually likes my nature only if it is combined with history. Except for the polders and the beach. 

The skyline drive is driving at a slow pace over the tops of the Shenandoah mountains. Koen was really hoping we would spot some wild animals and we were lucky although it was not the bears he had wanted. Secretly I did not mind that so much.

We saw many birds and on the last stretch a wild deer crossing the road. Around here they are not afraid enough of people. Thankfully you have to drive slowly.

There are a few points were you can enter and exit the parc and we exited for lunch and the Luray caverns. Again not something new but another place that I found completely changed over the years. When I was here last you went into the caves with a guided tour. Now the outside looked like an amusement parc with other attractions and the caverns were done by a self guided tour.

Don't get me wrong, they are still pretty spectacular. Especially the part were there is an underground lake and the stalagmites reflect in the water. And this way you can guide many more tourists through the caves on a given day. Again mass tourism isn't my thing. I prefer the guided ones were you can ask the quide questions and it feels more intimate.

After lunch we did a bit more of the skyline drive but then took the next exit and drove back to New Market. You guessed it at the end of the day we stopped at the New market battlefield and just had time to look around the museum before they closed for the day. As the ticket was for 3 days we already decided to head back on Thursday when we wanted to do more of the Shenandoah Valley.

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