By Blakelee Loft
Special to StLouisrams.com

We arrived in beautiful Colorado Springs CO late Friday evening, and were greeted by Willie Smith our contact.  Willie made us feel welcome from the start. He took us back to the hotel so we could get rested up for Saturday which was going to be a full day of meeting the troops and signing autographs.
 
Our day on Saturday began early, we enjoyed breakfast with Willie and "Jaws" before heading to Ft. Carson to meet some of the troops. We took a tour of the army base and they gave us a demonstration of the weapons used in combat. We headed up to the look out tower to watch the soldiers use the weapons on a target practice field. We then got the chance to talk with them and found out a few of the soldiers had already been to Iraq, several of them this was going to be there first time and were going to be deployed on Monday.  We then headed over the PX at Peterson AFB to sign autographs, sell calendars and take pictures with the fans. Later that evening we went to dinner with Willie and his wife at the Sunbird Restaurant which is located on a bluff over looking Colorado Springs. They treated us like family, we really had a nice time.
 
Sunday we had a little bit of time to sight see.  Willie took us to the Air Force Academy, where we took a tour of the museum for a little history. We had the opportunity to see the beautiful church at the academy, the architect was amazing. We also enjoyed the mountains which were breathtaking. The weather was gorgeous, but before we knew it it was time for our next signing at the Ft. Carson PX. When we arrived there were a line of fans waiting for us. After the signing we headed straight to the Super Bowl Party, where once again we were greeted with fans. This was their first Super Bowl Event and the turnout was great, the soldiers and their families had a fantastic time. It was nice to see the families enjoying themselves, since so many of them were leaving for Iraq the next day. All of us felt honored to be there to bring smiles, and in some small way give back to them for all they do for us. The soldiers and their families made us feel very special, not to mention Willie Smith (we all said we were going to miss him). We had a wonderful time in Colorado Springs!