Pahrump, Nevada
November 22-28, 2017
For the Thanksgiving holiday we had the great joy of welcoming my brother Clay into the Fitzgerald Family insanity for almost a week. We met up at one of our favorite campgrounds – Preferred RV Resort in Pahrump, Nevada.
He rented one of the cabins right next to our campsite where we enjoyed some classic American luxuries like watching football on Thanksgiving afternoon, enough floor space to leave a puzzle out for multiple days, and having an oven big enough to cook a full-sized turkey. Neither the cabin nor our camper had a table big enough for us to enjoy our feast, so we took advantage of the perfect weather and had a Thanksgiving picnic.

The next day we made the trek over the Death Valley National Park. We only spent 1 afternoon at this park last year, and had absolutely loved our time there. We were eager to be in Pahrump for an extended this stay to visit it on multiple occasions. Since Clay was with us on this visit, we spent more time looking for some of the filming locations of the original Star Wars trilogy. Pahrump is still home to an actual VIDEO RENTAL STORE, so one night we rented A New Hope and found all of the scenes from Death Valley.
This super wacky but awesome blog post was pretty helpful… https://www.panamintcity.com/exclusives/starwars.html







We spent one afternoon exploring Ash Meadows National Wildlife Refuge, which protects the largest remaining natural oasis in the Mojave Desert. It also boasts the highest concentration of endemic (only found in this 1 area) species in North America, and is home to Devil’s Hole, an over 500 foot deep hole filled with water in the desert, of which the bottom has still not been found.

On another day we drove toward Vegas to explore the Red Rock Canyon. One guess why they call it that…


Yes, the rock there really is that red!

It was such a great week. We had a blast showing off this campground to Uncle Clay – from the indoor pool to the sewing room to the TV room where we watched the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade to the dozens of bunnies that come out of the desert at night to nibble on the soft green irrigated campground lawn.

It was so fun to be back in a familiar campground and hosting a family member. It definitely made this Thanksgiving more fun and memorable.
👍👍
i’m fascinated by Devils Hole. what is the origin of the name? i’ve never thought about the Devil living in the middle of the earth. i guess it is hot there.