Over the Hump in Pahrum

For a really spectacular 4th of July, you have to go to "Over the hump", all the good stuff is in Pahrump. So on July 2nd we set out to get the best fireworks in Nevada, and Tom knew just where to get them. He had a wish list already made up and printed out from an online store, so all he had to do was match the list to the items on the shelf. The kids loved looking at the brightly colored packages, and just like every other year, Tom let them each pick out one special firework. By the time we were checked out, we had spent so much that Tom and Andrew both got free T-shirts---lucky!?!? A few employees at the store advised Tom not to go back to Vegas the way that we came, because of searches done to random vehicles along the highway. "It's real quick" they told us, to go around the other way into Vegas. We had no idea what we were getting ourselves into; but after an extra 120 miles we were home again.

Last year we stopped for ice cream in Pahrump before heading back into town, so we decided to make that part of our tradition. But who wants McDonald's, when you can go to "the World's Tallest Ice cream Stand"? I was sitting in a chair relaxing with my sundae, when Tom shouts out "Rae, what is under your chair? Look, look!" I thought for sure it was a scorpion or tarantella, and jumped probably 7 feet. But it was this adorable little chipmunk, mouse, squirrel, thing (If anyone can recognize it please take a guess, it had a long fuzzy tail and loved peanuts, it had a friend with him and lived under an air conditioner). So we spent a few extra minutes visiting with the local wildlife, before setting out on the next 2 hours of driving.