I’m with my friend at the Albuquerque Balloon Fiesta.  It’s been really awesome!  This is the largest balloon event ANYWHERE in the world. There are hot air and gas balloon races, competitions, and much more.

The Balloon Fiesta is held each year in October, and features hundreds of balloons and pilots from all over the world! The picture on the left is of my friend and me before we went for a ride in a hot air balloon.  We had a wonderful time!  Of course, I could have just flown myself…..but it was so cool to be in a hot air balloon with my human friends! 

The other picture is one we took while flying in the balloon.  You can see some of the other balloons that were flying with us.  It was a beautiful sight!  I’ve never seen so many hot air balloons in the sky at once.

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See you later -

Charlie

The Alps are very, very high mountains.  We rode to the top of a mountain in a cable car.  I’m used to being in the sky, so I wasn’t worried, but many of the people in the cable car were very nervous.  I started chirping a tune, and I think it helped some of the people calm down!   

 
While I was in Germany, I learned about mountain climbers….people who work really hard to climb to the top of the mountains.  The determination of Bavarian mountain climbers reminded me of the determination of the students at Trantwood Elementary in Virginia Beach, Virginia, USA.  They work so hard to learn new skills.  It won’t be long before I’ll see them back at school!

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Charlie

 

The trip to the school was a little rough….there was light rain in Virginia Beach today.  I was pretty wet when I arrived at ODC, but didn’t get lost because I’d located the school using Google Earth, so I knew just where to fly. 

  Mrs. Smithson was in the library when I arrived at school.  I think she was really surprised to see me!  She found a towel to dry my feathers, and then I stayed with her as she helped some fifth grade students do research on Civil War battles. 

 I was really interested in learning about a Civil War battle that took place near where Mrs. Smithson grew up in Petersburg, Virginia.  The battle was called “The Battle of the Crater.”  Some soldiers from Pennsylvania who had been coal miners at home, dug a tunnel underground so they could blow up a Confederate fort.  They had to dig the tunnel by hand!  It must have been very hard!  When the tunnel was completed, they lit a fuse and quickly crawled out of the tunnel.  Nothing happened.  They tried again, and this time, there was an enormous explosion.  All the ammunition in the fort exploded along with the gunpowder that the Union soldiers had put in the tunnel.  A huge crater was blown into the earth.  The fort was destroyed – BUT – the Union soldiers were trapped in the crater.  A terrible battle followed.  The plan of the Union army failed that day.  Many soldiers died.

I had a great time visiting at Old Donation Center today.  I hope I can visit with Mrs. Smithson in the library again soon!  She loves birds, and just happened to have some delicious bird seed in her drawer.  On top of that special treat, I really enjoyed learning so much about the Battle of the Crater!

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Charlie

Recently my friend Joan got me a ticket to the Carolina/Duke game in Chapel Hill, North Carolina.  Here’s a picture of me at the basketball game!

While we were in Chapel Hill, Joan let me fly around in the new Carolina basketball museum.  What a cool place!  I had a chance to see videos from lots of Carolina basketball games.  I even got to see lots of stuff about one of my favorite college coaches of all time, Dean Smith.  Here’s a picture of me standing next to a pair of Michael Jordan’s basketball shoes!   Boy, did he ever have big feet!  My feet are much better for perching on branches than for playing basketball.  Even though I can fly, I don’t think I’d make a very good basketbal player.  I’d have trouble holding on to the ball!

Yes, I do love those Tar Heels and ACC basketball!   Do any of you like basketball, too?  Please leave me a comment and let me know what teams you like.

Later…..

Charlie

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