Las Vegas Cup

Friday morning at 9:00 we headed south to Las Vegas the Las Vegas Cup. There was still water and some slush on parts of I-15, but it was not a problem, just enough to cover the Subaru in salt. We have done this drive south to St. George, Mesquite and Las Vegas for many tournaments over the years so we know the routine. This time we stopped for Subway in Cedar City. Will's Utah Storm team's first game was at 5:20 pm a the expansive Heritage Park in Henderson Nevada. Warm ups with Will kicking under the tutelage of coach Chad Bunce. Beautiful evening sky.

 Game on.

 Storm won the first game 2-1. Dinner at Zupa's afterwards.

Next morning at 11:45 the boys played again, losing 1-4 to an impressive team form Seattle. Storm's only score came when Christian (center) shot on goal, the ball bounced off the goalie and then Will followed through with a kick in.

 Post goal cheers of delight by Christian and Will.

The B on the mountain is for Basic High School. The Q was added in honor of Quentin Roberts who was killed in the 2017 mass shooting at the Route 91 concert in Las Vegas. "Robbins, 20, a Henderson resident, was the second-youngest person killed in the Oct. 1 mass shooting. He was an assistant basketball coach at Basic, where he had played basketball and golf and graduated in 2015. He studied biochemistry at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas." https://www.reviewjournal.com/crime/shootings/family-friends-make-hillside-memorial-for-las-vegas-shooting-victim/

Team cheer at the beginning of the Saturday evening game. The 7:15 pm game was 30 minutes late starting given that games throughout the day had not all started on time.

 It was a cold evening in Henderson.

 Avoiding a collision with the goalie.

 Just missing a tap in.

 An on goal header by Ivan that went high.

Caught by the keep.

Storm won their third game 3-1. Will really hustled. Two games in one day left his legs very sore. We closed down a Thai restaurant at 10:00 with a delicious dinner.

Sunday morning after church we grabbed Einstein bagel sandwiches for lunch and headed to Red Rock Canyon west of Las Vegas to explore. Red Rock Canyon is a BLM conservation area. I don't know exactly why, but since it is not part of the National Park system it was open for business during the partial government shutdown now entering its second month.

Will's legs were not up for any hikes but he did decide to hobble across a dry wash to see some petroglyphs.

At the end of the scenic drive we got word back from coach Chad that the Seattle team had won the bracket in a game earlier that morning and Storm had just missed the one and only wild card slot for the semi-finals. Meaning they finished 5th out of 12 for the tournament. That meant no games for Storm on Monday morning. Since the weather report called for heavy snow for Monday along all of I-15 in Utah. We decided to head home that evening while the going was still good.

On the way back to our hotel we stopped for a classic Las Vegas photo op--something we have never taken the time to do. The gold hotel behind the sign is Mandalay Bay from where the 2017 mass shooter shot and killed 58 people.

Dinner at 5 Guys in St. George. Gas in Cedar City and then a stop at the Holden exit so I could see the beginning of the Super Blood Wolf Moon lunar eclipse.

Marie and the boys enjoyed watching the eclipse unfold as we traveled north.  We stopped at the Nephi exit for a better look of the full eclipse.

Once home I took a final photo of the almost over eclipse with a nice ring around the moon.