^{Charlie is now in his 4th State and he in enjoying working on his tan on the Golden coast of California! California is one of Americas most visited states, with famous attractions such as San Francisco, Hollywood, Avenue of the Giants and its year round sunshine; it’s easy to see why this state is so popular.}

^{Our first destination was the Avenue of the Giants. Not home to Jack and his beanstalk but instead to the Giant Redwood trees that date back to over 2000 years old. They are the biggest trees in the world! Some of the ancient trees started their life as a tiny seed in America, whilst the Romans were invading the UK. Today, some of these trees are so tall and wide that they are big enough to drive a car through them! That is, if a car size hole has been cut through its trunk. Charlie found a tree just like this for us to ride our motorbike through.}

^{From here we headed to beautiful wine growing valley called Napa. This area looked just like France and Italy. The familiar buildings and all the farmers’ fields made Charlie think about home and all his friends at Charford First School.}

^{Next we reached the famous city of San Francisco. Charlie entered a half marathon so he could take in all the sites, including Golden Gate Bridge. Once called “the bridge that couldn’t be built,” this world-renowned orange bridge is over a mile long and it took over 4 years to build.}

 

^{Another famous attraction that Charlie enjoyed visiting was Alcatraz. From 1934 until 1963, Alcatraz was America’s maximum- security prison. Inmates re-named it “The Rock” due to its isolated location on a small rocky island off the coast from San Francisco. During the prisons 29-year history, there were 1,545 inmates, and out of those men, 36 tried to escape. Twenty-three were caught, six were shot during their escape, two drowned and five were never caught or found. Walking around the prison was a scary experience but still very interesting.}

 

^{From here Charlie headed back to the wilderness to visit Yosemite National Park. The valley is a 7-mile wild canyon with incredible rock formations, including El Capitan, the world’s tallest granite monolith (single rock).   This valley is also home to beautiful waterfalls; the most famous is Yosemite Falls the largest waterfall in North America. Charlie spent the night in a tent and woke up to the sound of mountain lions roaring to each other.}

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