Luray Caverns

Yesterday nobody had school or work (thanks, MLK!), so we drove to Shenendoah Valley to the Luray Caverns.  The Luray Caverns are enormous underground caves, sometimes as high as ten stories.  The tour was about an hour long, and our kids loved it.  They brought along the new digital cameras they had gotten for Christmas and took five bazillion photos.  In addition to the guide who led us through the caves, they all got headphones for additional information especially geared for kids.  Henry got bored with the kids' version and switched to the adult version, and Jack stayed home to do homework and have some alone time. 

This is the wishing well:

It is important because Henry made a wish that it would snow and he would get another day off of school.  Apparently, the wishing well has magical properties, because it snowed, then rained, then froze, and guess what?  No school today.  Stupid wishing well.

I would definitely recommend the caves.  There's a lot of walking up and down steep stairs and slopes, so if you have knee problems, suck it up like I did.  There was also a pretty sweet hedge maze at the Luray Caverns, so they could make an extra $35 off of us.  I kept thinking I'd find a frozen Jack Nicholson from The Shining at the end, but no such luck, just a dumb gift shop. 




This photo was lifted from the website so you can see how big the maze was.



After all that walking, we were starved, so went out to eat at a great little cafe nearby and then took the kids through their first ever car wash.  I know, it's crazy that they've never been through a car wash, but there it is.  They loved it. So, all in all, the day was a total win.  We even came home to three loads of laundry washed and folded by a teenager who was grateful to have a day to himself.  And now, no school.  All you DC and Virginia residents can thank my ten year-old for his most excellent wish.

Car wash