I've been to Carlsbad twice, once as a child and then again a few years back. My favourite formation there is the chandelier. WOW. For reasons I cannot explain, I never got to Luray, regardless of how many years I spent living just a few hours drive away.
I wish I'd known you were going, I'd have strongly recommended the Left Tunnel Tour or whatever its called. It's a private guided tour through another part of the cavern. They take only about a dozen people through at a time and you all carry oil lanterns as the only source of light. It is ASTOUNDINGLY cool. I'd also recommend going at sunrise or sunset to watch the bats as they come in (or out) from the cavern. That's quite a site.
If you ever get the chance to check out Kartchner down here in Arizona, that's good too. It's a live cave so it's very humid and they only light patches of it at a time to prevent vegetation growth and whatnot. It's guided as well, but really cool. And it's got a huge column at the end that is almost too much to be believed.
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I wish I'd known you were going, I'd have strongly recommended the Left Tunnel Tour or whatever its called. It's a private guided tour through another part of the cavern. They take only about a dozen people through at a time and you all carry oil lanterns as the only source of light. It is ASTOUNDINGLY cool. I'd also recommend going at sunrise or sunset to watch the bats as they come in (or out) from the cavern. That's quite a site.
If you ever get the chance to check out Kartchner down here in Arizona, that's good too. It's a live cave so it's very humid and they only light patches of it at a time to prevent vegetation growth and whatnot. It's guided as well, but really cool. And it's got a huge column at the end that is almost too much to be believed.