This is Seth's Version of our Trip!

Brooke and I arrived here in Union City, CA yesterday at about 5pm. We have been touring the southwest for the past five days and taking a mini-vacation working our way out here. First, we stayed at my best friend's place in Oklahoma City, he is an athletic trainer for the OU gymnastics team. We next traveled on I-40 to the town of Gallup, New Mexico, right on the Arizona line. We stayed in a Microtel, it was decent for the price. Wednesday morning we went thought the Petrified Forest National Park. It was bigger than expected, 28 miles total. It consisted of two parts, the painted desert/badlands and the area that contained the petrified trees. The petrified trees really looked like fallen logs that were now rotting, I halfway expected to be able to pick-up a small chunk that had fallen off and crumble it between my hands, that was not the case, it was solid and heavy. We were both starving after the exiting the park so we drove to the next town and ate some BBQ worth mentioning. Bubba's BBQ in Joseph City. Later that day I was able to experience something I will undoubtedly never forget or likely match, I saw the Grand Canyon. I would guess that you have been there, but if you have not simply know that nothing else measures up. We stayed in a Holiday Inn just outside of the national park and hit up the hot tub before retiring for the night. The next morning was continental breakfast followed by further exploration of different lookouts/views of the Grand Canyon. After seeing such an amazing natural marvel it only made sense to next visit the heralded Las Vegas for an unforgetable manmade marvel. I booked a room in the MGM Grand. We arrived after dark and were not prepared for the lights, traffic, and shear amount of work that went into making Las Vegas a vacationer's hot spot. Our favorite of the gody casino/hotels was the New York New York. It was a massive building comprised of many of NYC's famous skyscrapers(Statue of Liberty,Empire state bulding, christler bulidng and about 5 others) connected into a huge megacomplex of hotel rooms. Our room and complex was impressive too but it just isn't the newest, biggest, or most eye catching. After upacking getting someting to eat, and walking the strip, we did not have much time for gambling. That is ok because we also did not set aside any money for it either and we do not want to become acustomed to its loss. In the morning we headed out into the desert again to another national park, Death Valley. Entering the park we were surrounded by mountains, a said Daylight Pass 4000+ eevation, as e continued we deceded forever. I was suprised by the beauty of a place with death in the title. The valley had a white crusty look and on both sides large peaks with snow caps enclosed the Badwater Basin; the western hemisphere's lowest point. Everything is literaly uphill from there! We left the park and headed to Bakersfield, but stayed in Barstow. CA at the Super 8. The last stretch was to the Extended Stay America of Union City, which will be our temporary quarters while on assignment. We miss you and love you! -Seth

P.S. Big thanks to Andrea Schlager for helping me figure out how to copy and paste into the post box, without her this post would never have been posted...thanks girl!!!