Caverns

It has been a very long day, spent first at Luray Caverns, a two-hour drive from home, followed by a visit to Shenandoah National Park and Skyline Drive for a hike at Big Meadows.  It was lovely and cool in the caverns as well as up on the Drive, a very welcome thing  on a hot day at normal elevations. 

I took lots of shots in the caverns.  I had never photographed this kind of thing before and had a lot of trouble with exposure.  Finally the lightbulb went off about 2/3 of the way through and I started to bracket my shots for processing in HDR.  I am not a big fan of HDR because I often find the images look very artificial.  My goal was that these would look as close to what I saw as possible. I have added a second shot as an extra as well as a shot of the Shenandoah Valley as seen from Skyline Drive, looking across to Massanutten and the George Washington National Forest beyond.  Those lovely white clouds later turned dark and headed our way, resulting in a miserable drive home in severe thunderstorms.  I am exhausted, but the kids are still going.  It must be due to the long nap they took while I drove.