Yesterday morning we headed out the door around 7:30 to start our venture into the Shenandoah Valley. As we drove, we were surrounded by early morning sunlight and fog, which made me wish I had a better camera because the views as we left the city behind and watched as the land became more rural and mountains outstretched before us was simply stunning. I managed to snag a few pictures anyway on my phone and I’m so glad I did. Of course the quality does not do it justice. We did bring our digital camera and found a lot of the pictures we took ended up being blurry. Apparently it proved to be a difficult task to take pictures in a group tour setting and wait for the little green light on our camera to stop blinking and the “no shake” hand symbol to come up on the screen to get a perfect picture. Ain’t nobody got time for that. Eventually I gave up and used my phone again which actually ended up taking better pictures than the camera!

*warning – picture heavy post!

{notice how we both have our headphones in. Listening to music is a must on a long trip!}

Some days it’s so refreshing to see fields spread out all around you and rolling hills that go on for days. When we pulled up to the caverns site, I soaked in every second I could, seeing the beautiful and peaceful landscape around us.

As we were waiting for our tour guide, we took a step back in time and explored the Main St. of Yesteryear display. These were figurines that were displayed in the window of stores on Main St. during the Holiday seasons and provided entertainment for the little ones and sparked their imaginations. At times, I catch myself wishing we could go back to those simpler times and toss all of our electronics!

After the tour of Yesteryear, we spend some time looking at rocks and crystals in the gift shop awaiting our descent into the earth to see the caverns.

{steps down into the cavern, although we used the elevator}

{down below on the flip side}

What was interesting to learn was that we were standing right under…a fault line (pictured above). The tour guide said that currently the fault line is inactive, but my imagination couldn’t help but run wild and think of what could happen that very moment if an earthquake occurred!

One of the first things we saw was a wishing well and we were all amused that people had thrown in dollar bills. Look at all the pennies on the bottom!

Not far from the well, there was a barricaded off area, and on a rock sat a lone penny, which my niece pointed out to me. I had to take a picture of it because pennies hold a huge significance for my family (on my mom’s side), reminding us of my Aunt who passed away a while back. You can read about it on the Pennies From Heaven “Like” page I started!

This was the grand room that started it all. Two boys playing in a field back in the early 1900’s discovered the caverns at this site, although they didn’t quite go deep enough with their candle sticks to see the room we’re standing in. Our tour guide said the boys didn’t tell anyone of their discovery for a year! What a secret to keep (not to mention a great hideaway and play area!).

{probably not the best picture due to lighting and whatnot, but hey – we were there!}

{can you spot the elephant?}

This was a beautiful area in the caverns where you can really see the rocks glitter. People have actually gotten married at this site as well. Can you imagine the wedding pictures? Gorgeous!

{They called the long thin strips bacon. Not good when you’re already hungry…}

{Lovely rock from the caverns that sat outside the elevator}

Visiting the caverns was such an experience and I loved every minute of being down there with family and seeing our gorgeous earth from the inside out.

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