Eco-Tourism

Whenever I tell someone where I'm from, they always state how beautiful it is on that side of the state. I can't help but agree, and I'm grateful for that beauty as it's what helps keeps our town alive. Without the tourism brought from our cavern systems, the national park, or the scenic wineries Luray would be all but a ghost town. All real industry left Luray by the 1980s, even though we had been home to a Wrangler jean plant; now all they do is minor shipping from the facility with the jeans made south of the border. Yes, I'm grateful for the beauty of my hometown, and I do think it is indeed beautiful.

However, what is not beautiful is the neglect it receives by those passing through. The rules of "leave no trace" seldom remain even a forethought of man. The nation park becomes clustered and filled with both trash and people, and our cavern system experiences the same. The tourists love the wineries too, unable to see through their drunken stooper the empty cups and bottles around them as they watch the sun roll over the purple mountains into the west. Yes, I love how beautiful my hometown is, I just wish others helped to keep it that way.

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