Luray Caverns Tips

Dream Lake has an eery reflecting quality. © 2018 by Scott Bateman

Luray Caverns attracts half a million visitors annually, making it the most popular cave system in the eastern United States.

Discovered in 1878, the caverns were designated a Registered Natural Landmark by the National Park Service and the Department of Interior. It is one of the most interesting natural attractions in Virginia.

Visitors can see the caves via one-hour guided tours on lighted and paved walkways through cathedral-sized rooms with ceilings up to 10 stories high.

Large chambers are filled with towering columns, shimmering draperies and crystal-clear pools.

The Great Stalacpipe Organ creates sounds from the surrounding stalactite formations that cover more than three acres.

Other features include:

Titania’s Veil, a shimmering white formation of pure calcite, the result of spreading crystalline deposits.

Giant’s Hall, with enormous chambers filled with towering stone columns, shimmering draperies and crystal-clear pools.

Pluto’s Chasm, which is more than 500 feet long and 70 to 90 feet in depth.

Dream Lake, the largest body of water in the caverns. The lake is not deep, but it is highly reflecting in a way that creates and eerie display.

Saracen’s Tent, with translucent sheets that appear to have been parted, tent-like, for an entranceway.

Totem Poles is area of the caverns that contains a large number of formations in many shapes and colors. The cluster together is said to resemble totem poles. The poles show how water and growth patterns can create shapes that seem to defy gravity.

The Great Stalacpipe Organ is an electrically actuated lithophone that produces “music” from the tapping of mallets on nearby stalactites.

Visitors will find the paths and walkways throughout the caverns require only a moderate level of fitness. Informative guides stop the tour groups periodically to explain some of the most important features in the caverns. Lighting makes it possible for visitors to take plenty of photos.

Busch Gardens

Griffon® is the world’s tallest, floorless dive coaster. Busch Gardens® Williamsburg

Busch Gardens Williamsburg has plenty of rides, entertainment and fun for all ages.

It is the second largest amusement park in Virginia and one of the most visited sites in the state. There are activities for the youngest children in the family as well as the adults.

Busch Gardens in the Hampton Roads region of Virginia does indeed have gardens. The garden atmosphere offers the setting for a variety of animal shows and exhibits. However, it is a theme park so it has plenty of rides, entertainment and basic theme park activities.

The park opens near the end of April and remains open until December. It has consistently earned the honor of “Most Beautiful Theme Park”.

Rides

Apollo’s Chariot includes a 210-foot drop and reaches speeds up to 73 miles per hour.

Griffon is the tallest, floorless dive coaster in the world. It is 205 feet high and free falls at 75 miles per hour.

Alpengeist, which travels 67 miles per hour, is a steel roller coaster that climbs 195 feet. The Loch Ness Monster, which is a interlocking, double-looping roller coaster, stands 13 stories high. It has a drop of 114 feet and reaches 60 miles per hour.

Other rides include Da Vinci’s Cradle, Der Wirbelwind, Der Autobahn, Escape from Pompeii, Le Scoot, Loch Ness Monster, Aeronaut Skyride, and Verbolten. There also is a railway that gives visitors the opportunity to ride an old steam engine through the park.

While some rides do have height restrictions, there are rides that are designed just for kids.

Water Park

Busch Gardens says it has the largest water park in Virginia. It has a “mega slide”, wave pool, lazy river, racing slide and “surf-boggon” slides.

For children, the water park has themed play areas, shallow pools and child-sized water slides.

Note that the water park requires separate tickets. Visitors also can buy the theme park and water park in combination at a discount.

Entertainment

A variety of live entertainment is held throughout the amusement park. With singers, musicians and dancers performing in various shows throughout the park, there is something for everyone.

Whether visitors like country, rock or show tunes, there is a show that suits their tastes. There is a Sesame Street show, the Sunny Days Celebration and Family Fun Tour.

There are also shows that feature live animals, including Animals Up-Close, Lorikeet Glen, Clydesdales and Collies Up-Close Tour, Jack Hanna’s Wild Reserve and More Pet Shenanigans.

Food and Shopping

Busch Gardens offers themed foods from around the world. Selections are available from England, Scotland, Ireland, France, Germany and Italy.

Whether visitors are looking for a fast snack, a sweet treat or a sit down meal, they will find something that will suit any palate. The selections include kid-sized meals plus plates for larger adult appetites.

The park has numerous opportunities for shopping. Christmas Town allows you to find souvenirs as well as gifts for all your family and friends. There are gifts available from around the world, such as Ireland, Scotland, England, Germany and Italy.

Washington’s Mt. Vernon

Mount Vernon; credit: Ad Meskens, Wikimedia Commons

Visitors to Mount Vernon, the home of George Washington, will find evidence of a man even more astonishing than the history books describe.

The first American president and the hero of the American Revolution was clearly a man of great energy and great wealth.

During his life, he expanded his plantation from 2,000 to 8,000 acres. The Mansion House grew from six rooms to 23 rooms.

It is not just the size of the original property that must have been so impressive in the 1700s.

Although most of that land has been sold and 500 acres remain, what is still impressive is the mansion, the dozen outbuildings, four gardens and the various projects that Washington undertook during his life, despite lengthy absences for the Revolutionary War and the presidency.

Visitors also can see Washington’s tomb, a four-acre working farm with with a re-creation of Washington’s 16-sided treading barn and also 25 galleries and theaters at the Donald W. Reynolds Museum & Education Center and Ford Orientation Center.

The farm is a five-minute walk from the mansion and located next to the Wharf on the Potomac River.

Facilities include ample parking, shops, bookstores, restaurants and a food court.

Mansion

The mansion reflects Washington’s own guidance on design, construction and decoration. Over time, it grew from one and a half stories to two and a half stories and 11,000 square feet.

The mansion’s exterior is unusual because it uses a building technique called rustication. It appears to be stone, but it’s actually made from wood. The wood was bevelled to look like stone blocks. Sand was thrown onto wet paint to give it a texture that made it look even more like stone.

Revolutionary War Theater

The Revolutionary War Theater is a popular attraction that showcases Washington’s three major war campaigns.

A renovation of the theater means it now has 4D special effects including animations, cannon fire, fog, falling snow and other effects.

Jefferson’s Monticello

Monticello

The home of Thomas Jefferson at Monticello has an aura unlike so many other historical attractions — still and quiet on the small mountain where it stands outside of Charlottesville.

Visitors park on the mountainside, buy tickets at the massive visitor’s center and either walk or take a trolley up to the majestic white mansion at the top.

It’s best to go in the mornings to photograph the front of the mansion and the surrounding countryside while the sun is still rising. Allow at least two hours for a visit.

Garden Tours

Mansion tours take place according to a schedule. Visitors with time on their hands before the mansion tour can walk through the gardens while they wait or tour them after they see the mansion.

Go to the left of the mansion to visit the flower gardens, vegetable garden, fruit gardens and cemetery.

Each garden represented Jefferson’s fascination with botany among his many interests. The fruit garden alone had more than 130 varieties of 31 different fruits, according to the Thomas Jefferson Foundation.

The vegetable garden had 330 varieties of more than 70 different vegetables. The 1,000-foot-long garden lies along a terrace on the mountainside.

The path that leads to the gardens continues downhill toward the small, quiet and fenced cemetery with the remains of Jefferson and his relatives.

Another attraction outside of the mansion is Mulberry Row, which was a plantation street and center of life for slaves and free workers alike. It had more than 20 workshops, storehouses and homes.

Mansion Tours

Although the Monticello grounds are interesting in their own right, it is the interior of the mansion that reveals the mind of the nation’s third president and author of the Declaration of Independence.

The rooms show Jefferson’s interest in design, architecture and other subjects. Two of the most interesting rooms in the house are the hall with Jefferson’s “great clock” and the library, which produced a massive donation of books that led to the creation of the Library of Congress.

Paintings and sculptures throughout the house show people who stimulated Jefferson’s intellectual interests rather than ornamental or artistic interests.

Tour guides offer many anecdotes and an in-depth history of Jefferson’s accomplishments during the mansion tour.

Best Time to Go

The best time to go to Monticello is when the wait for the mansion tour is short. Sometimes the wait can last more than two or three hours.

Monticello is a popular tourist attraction in Charlottesville with children when schools are in session. It also is popular around the time of graduation at the University of Virginia. These times often lead to long waits for the mansion tour.

Crowds tend to be smaller during the cooler winter months and the summer months when schools are out.

The winter months mean few if any flowers are in bloom. The summer months mean warm if not uncomfortably hot temperatures, especially during the afternoon.

One of the best times to go is mornings in the summer when temperatures are not too hot and the sunrise faces the mansion’s front. Gates often open at 8:30 a.m., but hours do vary, so it is wise to consult the Monticello website for hours of the day to visit.

Monroe Estate

Highland estate house. Credit: © Scott Bateman

James Monroe’s Highland is the former official home of the U.S. president and a pleasant afternoon tour in the rolling hills outside of Charlottesville.

The fifth U.S. president and his wife owned the property from 1793 to 1826 and made it his official residence from 1799 to 1823, according to William and Mary College, current owner of the estate.

The last private owner of the estate bequeathed it to the college where Monroe studied from 1774 to 1776.

The Highland estate offers self-guided tours throughout the year. It also offers 35 minute guided tours. Visitors should expect to plan up to two hours visiting the buildings, gardens and grounds.

They will find a long entrance drive with a canopy of old white ash trees arching overhead that by itself is worthy of photos. At the end of the drive, a one-story visitor center provides access to the grounds and some welcome shade from the heat of the day for anyone touring in the summer.

After exiting the back of the center, visitors will walked down a walled garden path with a statue of Monroe in the distance.

If taking the tour, visitors will want to turn left to tour the home. A later owner was built over most of the original Monroe home. Near the entrance, note the massive 300-year-old white oak that stands in front of the house.

Once inside, the house reveals art and furniture originally owned by Monroe and his wife Elizabeth. A tour guide is most helpful in explaining Monroe’s life, the history of the home, and the origins of the art and furnishings.

Outside of the house, a partly sunken formal garden offers some photo opportunities.

The kitchen yard still contains the original smokehouse that was used to cure meats and fish. Next to the smokehouse is a reconstructed three-room dwelling, which may have housed slaves, and the overseer’s cottage, which is probably the plantation’s oldest outbuilding.

About James Monroe

James Monroe was born in Westmoreland County, Virginia, in 1758. He left studies at William and Mary to join the Continental Army during the American Revolutionary War.

After leaving the army in 1779, he rose to the rank of lieutenant colonel in the Virginia Militia. He went on to practice law and begin a career in public service that lasted the rest of his life.

Monroe was elected to the Virginia General Assembly and served in the Confederation Congress and U.S. Senate; named minister to France, England and Spain during three separate appointments; elected to four one-year terms as Virginia governor; and appointed Secretary of State and Secretary of War before becoming President.

He also is known for negotiating the Louisiana Purchase, developing the Missouri Compromise and establishing what became known as the Monroe Doctrine.

Walton’s Mountain Museum in Schuyler

“Good night, John Boy”— the phrase that every American came to know from watching television in the 1970s and 1980s.

America grew to love the wholesome, honest family that Earl Hamner wrote about in his book, “The Homecoming”. The book was ultimately based on the stories and life of Hamner’s own family, and the show became an icon of an America that used to be, the life of a Virginia family during the Great Depression. (more…)

Dolphin Watch

Many people have seen dolphins in aquariums, but even the best aquarium experience cannot compare to seeing these beautiful creatures in their natural environment.

The Virginia Aquarium and Marine Science Center, located in Virginia Beach, offers a dolphin watch excursion during which participants have the chance to view dolphins as they frolic in the ocean.

The excursion consists of a 90-minute boat ride that departs from the Virginia Beach Fishing Center at Rudee Inlet.

You’ll enjoy a lovely ride out to where dolphins are known to frequent. While sightings are not guaranteed, most of the trips do produce an impressive dolphin encounter.

Often the dolphins will swim right up alongside of the boat for several minutes, jumping from the water and seeming to enjoy putting on a show for their audience.

Photography and videography is allowed, and some lucky passengers capture fabulous shots. If you don’t, you can purchase some pictures from past excursions below deck.

Drinks and light refreshments can also be purchased while on board.

During the dolphin watch excursion you are free to move about the boat. You can sit on the top deck, in the small dining area or on the main deck.

The main deck is the best place to be during dolphin encounters because you will be closest to them. The view of dolphins from the main deck is still quite good.

During the entire journey a guide will be addressing the passengers over the intercom. In addition to pointing out dolphin sightings he will also give some local history and point out any other wildlife that may be seen.

This is a fun and memorable activity for the entire family.

Want to Go?

When: Dolphin watch excursions are offered seasonally from April through October. Exact dates for the dolphin watch excursions are subject to change, so you will want to check with the Aquarium prior to your visit.

Note that if you visit Virginia Beach during the winter months, the Aquarium offers a Winter Wildlife Boat Trip. During this winter trip some lucky visitors have seen whales.

Tickets: You can buy tickets at the dock or you can purchase discounted tickets with your admission to the Virginia Aquarium and Marine Science Center. The address for the Aquarium is 717 General Booth Boulevard, Virginia Beach, Virginia 23451. The address for the dock is 200 Winston Salem Avenue Virginia Beach, Virginia 23451.
Cost: Tickets are $21 for ages 12 and up and $15 for ages 4 to 11.
Call 757-385-FISH (3474) for more information.