Thank you to everyone on the boards who helped me out prepping for this trip..
Some notes..
I took my D40 with a Sigma 18-250mm lens and kept it locked and loaded almost all the time, but did have my Loewpro Fastpack250 (nice backpack.. but very big).
I did use my 50mm prime during the fireworks.. but I still need to work on my nighttime/flashless photo skills.
And I discovered.. I need to clean the sensor.. at least the spots only show on the blue sky..