Monticello // Luray Caverns

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This Thanksgiving was a particularly exciting one. First of all, my parents were in town and I was able to go through the LDS temple to receive my own Endowment. It's such a special experience that I have very little to show for it in the way of photos... Second, we decided to take my parents to one of our favorite places here on the east coast- Charlottesville, Virginia.

We first explored

Monticello

, home to Thomas Jefferson. This is such a fun tour with so much to learn, see, and do. I highly recommend it to all visiting or living in the area. The grounds and views themselves are worth the trip. It was a great, fall day to be out exploring. Cold but not too cold, there was just the right amount of "nip" in the air as we walked around.

Afterwards, we headed through the Shenandoah national park (just that short mountainous drive was enough to recharge my batteries) to explore the Luray Caverns. This was a first for all of us and it did not disappoint. We had dinner in a quaint little house called "

The Purple Door

". While the food was good (a little overpriced), the real fun was in the costumes... The Purple Door likes its guests to dress up for their tea, so they provide a wardrobe full of antique hats, gloves, and other accessories. My nieces and nephews had a blast... even the adults got into it. Some of us may have taken it a little far... Like when my dad dressed up as a woman named Vivica (Vī-vee-ka)... Hilarious!

We finished the day with a tour inside the

Luray Caverns

. These caverns are stunning and descend more than 160 feet below the surface of the earth. The tour includes the worlds largest musical instrument- an organ that uses the stalagmites from the ceiling to make it's hauntingly beautiful music that can be heard from anywhere inside the caverns. I've included a video from youtube for you to hear... I could listen to it all day.