Orange You Glad It’s Autumn?

Golds and oranges stand out this year.

Massanutten Range from Seven Bends State Park.

Shadow Shot / Sunday Best

Long Branch Lane

Endless Caverns Road

New Market in Letters

This postcard-style mural was recently completed in the town of New Market. The letters show local scenes, beginning with the golf course and ending with Endless Caverns 

The artist is Brooke Barrick-Helsley. She was mentored by Studio Sasquatch.

 I photographed it on a rainy day. Here are a few scenes nearby.

New Market Battlefield looked dreary in the rain, which is appropriate because the 1864 Battle took place on a day so wet that some soldiers lost their shoes in the mud.

Mosaics / Murals

Dreams of Luray

I noticed this pretty new mural in Luray and stopped to get a picture of it. It’s on E. Main St. and shows some of the nearby attractions, including Luray Caverns and the “Singing Tower.” This is signed by the artist G. M. Grant.

I believe this replaces a previous mural which was peeling and fading.

Sharing with Monday Murals.

L-U-R-A-Y Mural

Along Hawksbill Creek

When I was planning to drive through Luray last week, I looked up the location of a new mural. That town has an impressive number of murals and I have photographed quite a few of them. I saw that there was a new one where Virginia Avenue crosses Hawksbill Creek. When I got there, I found a parking spot and realized I had been there before and had taken pictures of a mural under the bridge. But that was four years ago, so I decided to walk a little ways and see if there was another one.

I found it in the underpass across from the older mural. There was no way to get a straight-on image so I had to make do. Illustrated letters spell out the name of the town.

I walked through and photographed each letter. They include a train because this is a railroad town. Inside the R is a scene from Luray Caverns. At the far end is a painting of the “singing tower,” which has a carillon that still plays music. 

Monday Murals / Mosaic

Dusk from Caverns Road

 Shenandoah County

We’ve had clear skies all week, so I scrolled back to last week’s pictures to find an interesting sky for Alan’s Skywatch linkup.

Small but Mighty Mural

Luray, VA

This painting of a raptor is on the side of Broad Porch Coffee. I did not find information on it, but I am going to guess that it depicts a hawk because it is steps away from Hawksbill Creek.

Luray is a small but vibrant town, popular with tourists because of Luray Caverns, and proximity to the Shenandoah River and Shenandoah National Park.

Mosaic Monday / Murals

The Lodge at Melrose Caverns

Rockingham County, VA

The lodge and caverns opened as a tourist attraction in 1932. Last week this building served as the tour headquarters for the Harrisonburg garden tours. I hope to return when I have time to tour the caverns. One of the attractions is graffiti from 1862, inscribed on cave walls by soldiers who camped on the grounds.

Along the South River in Grottoes

Do you take too many pictures! I can't keep up with mine. I never get around to sharing more than a fraction of them, and even some meaningful ones just slip into oblivion.

These are cell phone pictures from three weeks ago. Cell photos are particularly hard for me to remember because often I don't save them to my hard drive where I organize photos in such a way that I can search for them.  I can find cell pictures by date on iCloud, but paging through there does not compare to using Adobe Bridge. 

These are from the town of Grottoes. Most are from a park near Grand Caverns, which is one of the Shenandoah Valley's various "show caves" that you can visit. 

There's a pleasant path along the South River.

Black and White Weekend / Friday Bliss

Garden Affair / Floral Friday

Spring flowers were blooming. This time of year is enchanting in Virginia's forests and gardens. 

A squirrel was watching from a tree by the river. 

I'm also including a picture of the town post office. I appreciate our postal service, even though there have been problems over the past year. 

Skywatch Friday

Signs, Signs... Shenandoah.

Signs in Front Royal warn of "Leaf Traffic Coming," alternating with "Expect Delays." Why? Front Royal is the northern gateway to Skyline Drive and Shenandoah National Park. Weekends in  late October bring hordes of "leaf peepers" to the town and traffic backs up for miles as they wait to pay admission to the park.

If you must come on a weekend, get there early. Traffic is usually not bad before 10 AM. 

Foliage colors are just starting to change. The second picture shows a couple of trees at dusk, at Dickey Ridge Visitor Center in the park.

Pictures 3-7 show scenes at Shenandoah Caverns today. I did not tour the cave or the parade museum because I have been there before. I wanted to photograph the small post office which is inside the entrance building, which also has a gift shop. 

Sharing with Signs, Signs and

Little Things Thursday.

Giant Cootie

Shenandoah Caverns, Virginia

Sharing with Tuesday Treasures and Wordless on Tuesday.

Weyers Cave Rurality

Weyers Cave is a small town in Augusta County. According to Co-op Living, It got its name when a train depot opened there in 1874 and it was the closest stop to Grand Caverns, which were discovered by Bernard Weyer.

InSpired Sunday.

A sign outside this charming church says "New Vision Ministries." I did not find a history of the building but it used to be home to Melanchthon Lutheran Chapel. I found an old photo of that chapel and it shows three steps instead of a ramp. There is no steeple. The nearby cemetery has graves dating back to 1854.

Weyers Cave is in an agricultural area. I stopped briefly at the town park/ community center and could view pretty farms surrounding it.

The Barn Collective.

I left the Interstate...

... because I was driving into a storm. I was on my way home from Harrisonburg last Friday and heading straight for a dark-looking storm. I decided to take the exit at Mauzy and go down Route 11 for a while. There are places there to pull off it the rain comes done so hard you can't see.

With rain ahead and late afternoon sun behind me, it was not surprising to see a partial rainbow.

I turned on a country road to see if I could get a better shot. The rainbow was fading fast so this was what I got before it disappeared.

Since I've been in that area quite a few times, I knew I could find the road that goes by Endless Caverns. It's a scenic area and there could be more photo opportunities.

No doubt some of my readers will recognize the big letters on the hill advertising the cavern. Below that is a photo of the gateway to the caverns and campground.

Linking to Fences and Signs, Signs

I turned and took the Caverns Road back out to Route 11, stopping a few times to take some more pictures.

Look who's looking at me through the broken fence!

Steam was rising off the wet road.