Jump to content

Menu

I-81 attractions in VA (Frontier Museum, caverns, rt. 11 potato chip factory)...


Recommended Posts

are any of these worth going to and why

 

This is between my home and dd's camp (south of Staunton). This would be a stop on the way home from camp as a way to break up the day for her brother who be along for the car ride both ways. The pick up is early in the morning so we could have a long time at the museum if we wanted.

 

If you list caverns name one (Skyline, Crystal, Shenandoah, Endless, etc. ). I'm reluctant to do Luray, but if you want to convince me feel free.

 

dd is 14, ds is 10 with down syndrome

 

We could break for 1, 2 hours or longer, probably 2. Sometimes things work for ds and sometimes things don't. Right away I know the easiest thing to do would be the Rt. 11 potato chip factory. I'm guessing we can get potato chips and ds would like that. But I really want to believe the Frontier Museum could be successful for us.

 

Thank you for reading and letting me know what you've done and what you've liked.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

The Route 11 Potato Chip factory is kind of awesome. There's not much to it - you go into a big room/shop where you can taste all the different kinds of chips they make and then look through the windows at the production. Someone behind the counter guides you through the windows and answers any questions you have. It's only a half hour stop really. However, my kids were riveted. And they brought out warm chips for us to eat. And it was really kind of cool to see the machinery going.

 

Why are you reluctant to do Luray? We've been to a few of the caverns, but Luray is clearly the best by far. It does have the most touristy stuff around it as well, but the caverns themselves are pretty much untouched by the silliness and it's easy to avoid the other stuff. If you're not going to do Luray, then I'd just look at your map and pick the one that works best with your trip. I love caves and I think they're really cool, so I'd say do a cave, but if you're not into them, then don't.

 

I've never been to the Frontier Museum, so that one I can't comment on.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Why are you reluctant to do Luray? We've been to a few of the caverns, but Luray is clearly the best by far. It does have the most touristy stuff around it as well, but the caverns themselves are pretty much untouched by the silliness and it's easy to avoid the other stuff. If you're not going to do Luray, then I'd just look at your map and pick the one that works best with your trip. I love caves and I think they're really cool, so I'd say do a cave, but if you're not into them, then don't.

 

I guess part of the avoidance of Luray is about me. Over the years I know I've been to Shenandoah, Luray, Crystal, Skyline and Natural Bridge Caverns). Each has their own unique geological formations. We did Natural Bridge last year. It's be at least 10 years since the others. Of the others, I've been to Luray the most since I went there a few times as a kid.

 

Part of my concern is since Luray is the most well known there may be a crowd aspect. And there's a crowd, the ability to easily deal with a bad day becomes greatly diminished. At Natural Bridge last year we were able to walk some distance behind our group and still get through the caverns (that was at the end of a very tiring day).

 

Ds is generally easy to deal with, even on a bad day, but on a bad day we do need space to get some quiet and regain our composure. I also want to give him some good learning field trips.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

 Share

×
×
  • Create New...