Day 14: 2 Bears

This morning we got back on the road after the wonderful respite at Karen's house.
Starting mileage 3756.3
We decided to go back across I-66 and go down Skyline Drive.  ALL the way there, Lon was talking to me about how much FUN it would be to back to a cavern, and we would be right there! Skyline Caverns would be wonderful. Really, Mom, you can not still be scared of doing this!  I spoil that boy. Yes, we went to Skyline Caverns

While I was paying the nice lady who was going to let us in the Cavern, I look up. There is a BEAR out there!  He seems to have a taste for the garbage at the Caverns. They call him Nacho.  They need to get better garbage cans.

Lon is excited about the bear and the fact we are going into a deep, dark cave.  We had time to go back to the car and get our sweat shirts. It is 54 in the cave.

Listening to the tour guide. I wish she would have stopped talking about earthquakes and cave collapses.

Touching the lucky post.

These little growing deposits grow only in this cave. They are pretty.  They are called anthrodites.
Background and History Bit:
Skyline Caverns, is a series of geologic caves and a tourist attraction located in Front Royal, Virginia. The caverns were discovered by Walter S. Amos, a retired geologist and mineralogist from Winchester, Virginia, on December 17, 1937. The Skyline Caverns is open year-round, offering guided tours through the caverns. In addition to the cavern tours, tourists can journey on the Skyline Arrow, a one-fifth scale miniature train ride (open seasonally) or one can experience the Enchanted Dragon Mirror Maze, where you are transported into a mystical world of mirrors, in search of the great dragon's egg! (Open year-round) Amos was contracted by several private and government agencies to search for caves and caverns to open in conjunction with Skyline Drive. During his search, he came across the current parking lot of the caverns, which he noticed was in the shape of a sinkhole. Normally, sinkholes are created by the collapsing of a cavern roof, which takes the ground above with it. He noticed there was no water in this sinkhole, therefore he knew there had to be a drain nearby, most likely a cavern.
Knowing this, Amos began to search the edges for some opening to the possible cave system below. He found this opening on the lip of the sinkhole by noticing a small colony of camel crickets(which only live in damp, dark areas by nature) under a small ledge.
Upon digging out the first "room" of the caverns, he came into a large system of connected rooms, most of which were navigable and cleared from all obstructions. 90% of the caverns were naturally accessible and other than the entrance area, only 10% needed to be dug out. The use of scientific analysis makes the discovery of Skyline Caverns extremely unique.
However, the cavern floor was lined with approximately 14 inches of mud and clay, which had to be cleared before the caverns could be opened to the public on April 13, 1939.
The caverns are estimated to be approximately 50 to 60 million years old.

We went back to Front Royal for lunch.  We stopped at a local place that prides itself on home made food. It is called Spelunker's. The burger was really good. Lon got a kid's combo meal that included a small frozen custard for dessert. I only got one little taste, but it was out of this world good!
We got gas at Big Al's
Mileage 3822.3
$3.41 per gallon, total price $28.03. (Big Al's did not give me how many gallons I got)  We did not really need gas, but I wanted to get gas before we went down Skyline Drive. I did not know they had gas inside the park.

We stopped at the welcome center, 4 miles into the park, and Lon got a stamp for his National Park's Passport.  It is a low cloud kind of day.

Pretty

We are having fun, goofing off at the pullouts, we go to as many as we can, some are closed for construction.

Lon wants to come back when he is bigger and walk the entire length of the Appalachian Trail. I said things like that when I was 7, and I did them. I have no doubt he will do this!

The bronze in front of Big Meadow. They have a great visitor's center!

explanation of bronze

They have a museum on how the road was built. I did not know there was so much controversy over the building of the park.   There were people evicted off their land to build the park.

Lon using the phones to listen to messages about the building of the park and Skyline Drive.

The second bear of the day as he ambled across the road in front of our car.

Lon and I drove the entire length of Skyline Drive.  The speed limit is 35 miles an hour. It was beautiful.
It is 105 miles long.

We decided to stop for the night at Staunton, Virginia. I was tired, Lon was tired. Time to stop driving.
Lon wanted to walk around the Historic Downtown area. He reads the road signs, and likes the idea of a historic downtown.  Well, at 7:15 most things were closed.  Shenandoah Pizza was closed on Mondays.

We stopped at Baja Beans Co.  It was pretty much what we could find.  Lon is happy to have his favorite, a quesadilla!  Well, we got our food. Not even close to what we are used to on the west coast.  I did not like the food I ordered either.  I ordered a carne asada.  The meat was in tiny chunks with a gritty spice mixture on it.   We paid our bill, since we did eat a little, and we left.

And went right next door to a gelato place. Lon had chocolate and cookies and cream. I had orange and chocolate. It was wonderful.  The owner behind the counter gave Lon two cookies in his gelato.
I left the garmin in the room again, and Lon had an anxious moment that Mommy would not find our hotel again! But, of course, Mommy did.  Lon told me as we pulled into the parking lot, Mommy, I am impressed you can go places without the garmin.
We are now debating on what we are going to do tomorrow. We have a few options!