Viva Virginia – Dinosaur Trail at Grand Caverns in Grottoes

 

There are so many activities to decide upon at Grand Caverns park.

JJ has been wanting the rest of our family to experience this trail for some time now.  It is just a short trip from Harrisonburg to Grottoes, and the Grand Caverns park.  I just love this park.  It has the feel of a tourist attraction  when things were simpler and less shiny……but full of old fashion (and cheap) fun.  That is what this whole park is about.  It has no bells and whistles, but it has about everything else you would want for some outdoor pursuits.  A river, whose possibilities are endless.  A pool, putt putt golf, biking and hiking trails, horseshoes, baseball and tennis.  And this is to not even mention the crown jewel of the park:  The Caverns themselves.

Grand Caverns were first discovered in 1804, and have been continuously operating as a show cavern since 1806.  Which makes it the oldest caverns in North America by that distinction.  There are  many caverns in this area, and a few that get more fanfare than Grand Caverns.  But, that does not mean these are any less ‘Grand’.  In fact, in 2002, Parade Magazine ranked Grand Caverns as the #2 cave in all of America.  There are over 200 rare ‘shield’ formations in Grand Caverns.  Make a plan to visit for yourself to see what those are.  We did not visit the Caverns on this visit…..though we have visited a few times in the past.  One visit in fact, resulted in a story that remains very popular in our family folklore, told over and over again….about the time that a bat landed squarely on Mickey’s chest……very shortly after I (Minnie) asked the tour guide if the large number of bats in the cave ever bothered humans.  To which she replied, ‘No’!    Mickey’s bat friend will forever be etched in my memory!

If you are not content to visit ‘yesteryear’ and you are a bit adventurous, you can step even further back into time at Grand Caverns Park.  Likes 1,000’s of years ago – to prehistoric time when dinosaurs walked the earth.  A dinosaur trail has been added recently, and after months of hearing about it from JJ (who went last fall with his grandparents), we were ready for the challenge!

Neither of my boys were ever really into dinosaurs, like I know some boys are.  Nonetheless, we all know a T-Rex when we see one:

 

Lucky for us, this guy seemed pretty nice

We were not able to off hand identify any of the rest of these, but they were all fun to encounter.  I think perhaps the Momma and her baby are Triceratops though.

 

 

 

 

 

Is it me, or do they all look pretty realistic?  They are made out of fiberglass by the same artist (Mark Cline) who created Foamhenge that we visited at the beginning of the summer.  Check it out:  http://virginiavinesandtrails.com/2014/06/13/viva-virginia-foamhenge-and-natural-bridge  He had them in their own attraction called Dinosaur Kingdom at Natural Bridge, and is looking to (maybe) move more to Grottoes in the future.    Here is hoping they do.

Grand Caverns park is a great place to spend the day, no matter what attracts you there.  For us, it was to click off another Viva Virgina with the dinosaurs….but we already have plans to head back with our bikes and explore.