By Erin Bradshaw
Special to StLouisrams.com

Erin B, Maria, and I went to Bahrain over Super Bowl weekend.  Bahrain is an island located in the Middle East.  We had two connecting flights, with a three hour layover each and two of the flights lasted over six hours.  So when we finally got into Bahrain on Friday night, we were exhausted, so we went straight to bed.  The next couple of days we toured the city and visited with the soldiers.  We got to see and take pictures with some of the K-9 dogs and their trainers and then we walked around, signed autographs and took pictures with as many soldiers as we could find.  Because of the time difference, Super Bowl started at 2am Monday morning, so the festivities began at midnight.  We performed two routines for pre-game then signed autographs until the game started, at which point we sat down to watch the first half.  At half-time we performed two more routines for the soldiers and finished up anymore autographs that the soldiers wanted.  Once we got back to our rooms it was around 5:30am and we had to be ready to go at 10:30am, so we got a few hours of sleep that morning.  The rest of the day we visited more soldiers, on another base close by, and then we went and toured a submarine.  This was the first time any of us had been inside one so we were excited.  After the tour, they presented us with our "fish", which takes soldiers a year of studying and passing a test to receive.  We were very honored and excited to receive this pin, we couldn't stop smiling.  Since this was our last night in Bahrain, we wanted to experience middle eastern food, so after our tour we went to a restaurant a soldier had suggested and ate.  The food was amazing.  After our dinner, we headed back to our hotel, where we packed and got ready to leave for our long journey home. 

We have talked about our trip since we got back and we all agree it was such an amazing experience.  The soldiers were so appreciative to have us there and everyone was just so nice.  Each one of us has a favorite memory from the trip that we will cherish and remember for years to come.