Down Under (in Luray, not Australia)

I can't believe we haven't made the short trip to see the Luray Caverns yet, but we fixed that this past week thanks to having great visitors like Dan's parents. Caverns are the perfect winter destination--it was cold and snowy outside, but the caverns maintain a constant cool temperature. And they are the perfect summer destination, too. (Though they do turn you into a mole so that adjusting the the harsh full sunshine is a little painful!)

As we descended underground on our mile-and-a-half walk it seemed that felt like an Indiana Jones Disneyland ride. I'm sure someone has already thought of it, and it's really better off without it. Isn't the reflection in this lake amazing? That could never be replicated, and it most definitely couldn't be improved with a noisy fast-paced shuttle ride.

 Every space was more amazing than the last. I can't imagine the creepy task of exploring this for the first time, but it must have been thrilling. To watch these stalactites form (over the course of thousands of years) would not be so thrilling, but I was excited by the intermittent drips of water seeing what those drips do in the long run.

 I have been underground several times, but this is my favorite underground destination by far. The height of the ceiling and size of each chamber were so impressive. I only wish I could have figured out some awesome photo setting tips to capture everything more clearly!

 I counted my lucky stars that my kids could walk the whole way and enjoy each impressive formation. They could "see" the shapes in the formations and identify the differences in texture and color of the formations. It really does seem like yesterday that taking the twins into caves sounded like a nightmare.

 And at the end of the tour having had a full hour to think about it, these are what the stalactites looked like to me. Dried out carrots that were never pulled from the ground. Mountain roots. Sticks poked into the ground by toddler giants.

Tell me this: what do they look like to you?