We found it challenging to do justice to the cavern interior as much of the drama and majesty was derived from careful use of light and shadow. Use of a flash meant the image lost a great deal of that drama, and Andy was the only person with access to a tripod -- my camera was just too heavy for the one he was using. Bummer.
The tripod Andy was using is really cool. As you can see from the picture, it is bendy (for lack of a better adjective) and can stand on its own or be attached to a wide variety of random objects. For example, the guardrail seen here.
The caves had pools in some spots. In my opinion, these were the best spots in the whole cavern. These pictures hardly do justice, but the water was so still and perfect, it was like a mirror of the ceiling. As we approached some of these spots, I wasn't sure at first that there was water there at all. So cool in that nerdy geo-major kind of way.
Some of the "formations" reminded me of Pizza the Hut from Spaceballs.
"Oh, Christmas tree, oh, Christmas tree..."
Aww... we're cavepeople.
The view from the Caverns' entrance. As you can tell by the bluish haze in this picture, the day was hot (lower 90s and average humidity). One of the more pleasant aspects of our journey down below was the temperature. The caves maintain a cool 60 or so degrees year round. After nearly 2 months in the DC heat and humidity, the cool temps were heavenly.
On the way home, we took advantage of a relatively nice day and took a drive north on Skyline Drive through Shennendoah National Park. For those of you not aware, Skyline Drive is a scenic byway -- courtesy of the WPA -- along the mountain ridge that runs 80 miles from the northern tip of the park to the southern tip.
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