Grottoes, VA
Grand Caverns were discovered in 1804 by Bernard Weyer and open for tours beginning in 1806. It is the oldest continually operating show cave in the United States.
Rates:
- Adult (Ages 13-59): $20
- Child (Ages 6-12): $11
- Senior (Ages 60+): $18
- Small Child (Ages 5 and under): Free
***Additional discounts are offered for various things such as Local residents, AAA/AARP members, first responders, military and large groups***
Tour information:
70 minute walking tour that covers about 1 mile in 54 degree weather (year round). The cave features stairs and is not wheelchair and stroller friendly.
Our trip
Not knowing what to do for the day, Blake and I headed towards the mountains. This is our go to if we can’t think of anything local to do. Thankfully for us, the mountains are only about a 2 hour drive (or more depending on what part of the state we choose). He ended up staying at his brothers apartment in Richmond, VA the night before which made for an even shorter drive. We decided to go to Grand Caverns. I happened to stumble across a Groupon for a tour which gave us 2 tours for $22. We arrived at the cave and presented our Groupon and signed up for the next tour. The waiting area had a lot of history on the cave as well as artifacts found inside the cave.
The cave has many formations to include Stalactites and Stalagmites, Drapery formations known as Cave bacon, Cave popcorn and Flowstone.
Inside the cave there are over 200 verified signatures from the Civil War, with the most famous being that of W. W. Miles.
We really enjoyed our tour and ran into a couple signed up to take the next tour. They told us about Fountain Cave which is associated with Grand Caverns and it is a caving experience for people ages 12+. Fountain Cave has been added to our bucket list.
With time to kill before going home, I came across another Groupon for CrossKeys Vineyards CrossKeys Vineyards – Unlock The Love – Mt. Crawford, VAhttps://crosskeysvineyards.com
The Groupon came with a winery tour, cheese platter and logo glasses for 2. The tour was informative and gave us a lot on insight to the wine making processes used at the winery.
Upon conclusion of our tour we went to the counter to purchase a wine tasting and retrieve our cheese platter. The woman working the tasting counter was amazing to watch. She would take anywhere form 5 to 6 orders at a time and never missed a beat. We sat under a covered gazebo to enough our wine and cheese. We got to keep our glasses as they were included with the Groupon.
Once we left CrossKeys we stopped by Barren Ridge Vineyards
https://www.barrenridgevineyards.com
Barron Ridge had a beautiful set up inside and outside for guest. We had a younger gentleman do our tasting and he seemed to really love to interact with guest. Barron Ridge also provided crackers to eat between tastings to refresh the palate. The outside setting for the winery had gorgeous mountain views and we happened to catch the views at sunset.
Nic of Time - Travel 