Luray Caverns

Luray Caverns, originally called Luray Cave, is a large, celebrated commercial cave discovered in 1878. The underground cavern system is generously adorned with speleothems (columns, mud flows, stalactites, stalagmites, flowstone, mirrored pools, etc). The caverns are noted for the Great Stalacpipe Organ, a lithophone made from solenoid fired strikers that tap stalactites of various sizes to produce tones similar to those of xylophones, tuning forks, or bells.

The Caverns are situated in the Shenandoah Valley just to the east of the Allegheny Range of the Appalachian Mountains in Luray, Virginia. The temperature inside the caverns is uniformly 54 °F (12 °C) through out the year!

We along with Jeffrey's family drove down to Virginia during the last long weekend on account of the Veterans Day. I was all geared up with my tripod because I knew that I would be clicking away inside the cave & really hated to click such beauties with flash. Apart from the natural beauty, they had been well mantained & strategically lighted to enhance the viewers experience & to make the trip a memorable one.

Taken using a Nikon D50 mounted on a tripod
Aperture: f/4.2
Shutter: 1/8th of a sec

Information Source: Wikipedia

Bright & Colorful Outlook

This scene was so beautiful & I am in loss of words to describe this photo - Does it resemble anybody's beautiful, colorful & bright outlook towards life?

Taken on 4th of May 2008 at the Longwood gardens in Pennysylvania.
Aperture: f/6.3
Shutter: 1/160th of a Sec
Focus: Manual, no flash, 55mm

Tulips

Tulipa commonly called Tulip is a genus of about 100 species of bulbous flowering plants. The native range of the species includes southern Europe, north Africa, and Asia from Anatolia and Iran in the east to northeast of China. A number of species and many hybrid cultivars are grown in gardens, used as pot plants or as fresh cut flowers.

Tulip Festivals are held in the Netherlands, Spalding (England) and in North America every May. Tulips are now also popular in Australia, and several festivals are held during September and October in the Southern hemisphere's spring. The world's largest permanent display of tulips, although open to the public only seasonally, is in Keukenhof, in the Netherlands.

The welcome of the Spring after the harsh winter weather in the United States are welcomes by the Tulip festivals & the Cherry Blossoms. They add a lot of color to the environment and that is a real welcome after the dull grey & white of the winter. These photos were taken from the Longwood gardens (arboretum) in Pennysylvania on 4th May 2008. It was a nice day out with sunshine & cool breeze.



Clicked using my Nikon D50 in the bright sunlight & image balancing done using MS Picture Manager
Content courtesy: Wikipedia