The next morning we awoke to a beautiful, sunny Californian day, and fortunately this was the theme throughout the trip. After a very hearty American-style breakfast, we spent the day seeing the sights of San Francisco, including Chinatown, the earthquake-proof Trans-America building, the Twin Peaks viewpoint and of course, the Golden Gate Bridge. We waved goodbye to the city in the afternoon, and set off over the Bay Bridge, heading through farming country in the Modesto area towards our hotel in Oakdale.

On day 3 of the tour, we visited the spectacular Yosemite National Park, with its high granite cliffs and waterfalls, and the famous Half Dome, which rises 4737ft above the meadows and forests on the valley floor. We left the park in the afternoon, driving over the 10,000ft Tioga Pass, en-route to our next hotel in Bishop.

On Day 4 we set off from Bishop, where we were surrounded by snow-capped mountains, but the scenery soon changed dramatically, and we stopped for lunch in Death Valley National Park, the hottest, driest and lowest spot in North America. After taking a group photo at Zabriskie Point, we boarded the bus again and arrived in Las Vegas just as the sun was going down. We then had a fantastic evening wandering along the strip in Vegas, having a look around some of the casinos, taking in the fountains and light shows, and dining at the luxurious Bellagio Hotel.

We spent the night in the Phoenix suburb of Tempe, before continuing on our journey to Los Angeles, stopping off in Palm Springs for some more retail therapy. We arrived in Los Angeles just in time for the rush-hour traffic, taking in the city skyline as our bus made its way very slowly to our hotel, and catching our first glimpse of the famous Hollywood sign.

Our first full day in Los Angeles was spent at Universal Studios, followed by dinner at the Hard Rock Café, and then on our final day, we had some time to see the sights of the city. We started by visiting Mann’s Chinese Theatre, with the handprints and footprints of Hollywood stars in the concrete outside, and the star-studded sidewalk of Hollywood Boulevard. We stopped for lunch at a lovely outdoor market, before spending the afternoon at the beautiful Santa Monica Beach and Pier. Unfortunately, all good things must come to an end, but we did have time for one final stop at the famous Venice Beach, before heading to the airport for our overnight flight home.

Mrs Leppard would like to thank Mrs Lindsay, Ms Gordon, Mr Dickson and Mr Thewliss for the help and support they provided in the organisation of this trip, which was undoubtedly a fantastic educational experience for everyone involved.

The pupils were exceptionally well behaved and were outstanding representatives of Harris Academy. The airline staff, our tour guide and other tourists we met, all commented on how polite and pleasant our pupils were, and the staff would like to thank the entire group for making this trip such a success.

A gallery of photos of the trip can be viewed on pages 3 to 6.