Conquering Skyline Drive

After a month-long drought of conquering the '30' I finally made my way to Shenandoah to photograph Skyline Drive an go camping (for the first time ever outside of summer camp)! Had a wonderful, somewhat spontaneous weekend getaway. It was not without a few bump and mini "crises". In the 2 weeks since we decided to go camping in Shenandoah on the top of the "to do" list was to make sure my good camera (Nikon D40x) was charged. So of course I made sure it was fully charged. I also have a nice Canon point and shoot that I usually take on outings but I could not find it before we left and decided I was fine with the SLR. After about 2 1/2 hours we get to Shenandoah's Front Royal entrance (5pm) and stop at the first overlook (4 miles into the park). I get out to take a picture and, much to my horror, I hear the dreaded hollow click and see "No SD Card Inserted" on the screen. My initial instinct was to cry, I came really close, but I resisted the urge and quickly processed a few options. We could drive back out north and go to the Walmart where we bought fishing licenses and get a card but that would probably be about an hour round trip and we had to get to the campground and get set before 8pm sundown. No chance with another 50 miles to go at 35 mph max. So, I thought back to the many trips with my family to National Parks and the many cameras/batteries we bought inside the park and I was sure they had to sell SD cards for forgetful and in crisis folks just like yours truly. The 20 mile, 45 minute drive to the next giftshop/camp store was very very very nerve-wracking. Did I really go 3 hours to Shenandoah without realizing the memory card was missing? Alas, for the bargain price of $16.99 I got a brand new 2gb SD card. Phew. Crisis averted. Let this be a lesson, kids, next time add both "charge camera battery" and "make sure you have the memory card in the camera" to the list. I'll post a few more stories when I do the camping post, but for now, enjoy a few pics of Skyline Drive...