Luray - Day 1

For the new year, we decided to make a trip down Luray, VA to see Luray Caverns. So far, it's been a pretty interesting trip. We spent 5 hours on the road. An hour into the trip, we stopped by Cracker Barrel for lunch.

This was my first time at Cracker Barrel and I wasn't sure what to expect. Fortunately, I was pleasantly surprised. The service was great as was the food. I ordered the eggs-in-a-basket and it was delicious. Our watress also brought out plenty of biscuits and saw-mill gravy and cinammon biscuits.

Cracker Barrel also had a small puzzle game at the table. It was the pyramid puzzle where you skip pegs and try to leave as few pegs as possible. I didn't think it was possible, but Gene managed to score a 6. On my first try, I was able to score a 2, which made me "purty smart".

Another interesting thing was the the candy that they had in the Cracker Barrel store. Hersheys had different chocolate bars with classic looking wrapping. I wonder how much it costs Hershey to produce custom packaging for Cracker Barrel.

After lunch, it was a long trip through Maryland, West Virginia, and Virginia to our hotel. I managed to be lulled to slumber by Jack Johnson, but the majority of the drive was uneventful.

We arrived in Luray a little after 7pm. After a long drive, we working looking forward to just kind of relaxing. Jimmy went to check in, but there was a minor altercation. We had reserved two doubles, but they only put us down for one. The manager tried to give us a single, but the room smelled. We got on the phone with Priceline, and eventually the manager gave us the "suite" for the same price as the double.

Despite everything, we ended up staying at the Cardnial Inn. The place is kind of weak, but it's a place to stay. While we were in the office working out the rooming situation, we were joking that the "internet" was only in the office and you had to plugin to the ethernet. Luckily, there was a repeater near our room.

Once we got the rooming situation sorted out, we set out to explore Luray. The town consists of bars, pawn shops, antique shops, and a Walmart. We inadvertanly drove right by Luray Cavern and did our best not to spoil our experience. By this time, it was close to 9pm and there was not much else to do, so we went to grab some dinner.

We ended up eating at a mexican restaurant which was converted from an old Mcdonalds. The conversion was evident from the doors "push", the drive through window, but most indicative were the tiles used for the playground space. They did a pretty good job of converting it to a mexican joint.

Our waitress had a very endearing southern accent. The majority of us suspected that the accent was from North Carolina, but it ended up being a native Virginia accent. Dinner was surprisingly good. If you're ever in Luray, VA, stop by Rancho Viejo Mex Grill. The food was surprisingly good.

While we were driving around, we saw the "Luray Zoo and Reptile Jungle". The place was real kitchy and we managed some pictures. The doorway consisted of a big aligator mouth. There was also a big dinosaur in the front of the place.

Just looking at the various advertisements and pamphlets in the office, most of the stuff around Luray is pretty crappy. There was this pamphlet for "Dinosaur Adventure" with these cheesy dinosaurs vs civil war people.

Driving around, I thought about the economics of these small towns. It seems like the main source of income is tourism based. The second income is alcohol consumption. I also thought about the higher education opportunities offered to a town of 5000. Even if they had the grades to go to university, that doesn't necessarily mean that they have the means to go to college.

So, our adventure begins.