Emily’s soccer team, Sacramento Real FC Endurance competed in the International tournament, “Mayor’s Cup” in Las Vegas over the President’s day weekend. We took advantage of the locale to take the kids to Sin City for their first time. Soccer tournaments can be time-consuming, but we still managed to walk a good bit of the strip and take in a few other tourist favorites. The high lite of the strip for me is always the fountains at the Bellagio, and we managed to find ourselves in front of them four times including once by pure coincidence as we drove toward our hotel at ten at night.

We were a bit nervous at bringing the kids to Vegas where vendors virtually hand out soft porn on the sidewalk at night, but the kids have matured enough to handle it and enjoyed it immensely. That being said, if I had seen a scantily-clad dancer on stage at the age of 12 I would certainly never have forgotten it. Patrick was treated to this site as we made our way through the casino to Dick’s Last Resort.

I classify Dick’s as more of a dining experience than a quality meal. It rivals Applebees or the likes, but shines in the quality of it’s service. Known for its surly and sarcastic wait-staff, Dick’s will bring even the most doubtful patrons (ahem…Emily) out of their shells. Paper hats with hilarious sayings on them are handed out, and though they look more like a pope’s hat or KKK costume, people leave them on throughout the meal. Our waiter picked up on Patrick’s jovial mood and dragged him to the dance floor to tear one up with a half naked waitress who did the electric boogaloo with him. The place went crazy cheering for them.

As much fun as we had, I find myself more and more agreeing with Lisa who has less and less desire to return to Vegas. The place seems filled with horrible people who are in a hurry always and their hurry is more important than yours. They certainly bring out the worst in me. I’ve been there and done that 6 times now, and I’ve decided I’ll take a solitary cabin in the woods anytime.

For the record, Emily’s team played below their potential and ended up in the conciliation round tying their final game. For her part, Emily played quite well and had some incredible saves in goal. The tournament was attended by teams from Alaska, Nebraska, Minnesota, Colorado and as far away as Brazil.