Innocent!
DAY 9:
This day we decided to go to the Santa Maria courthouse. It’s where the Michael Jackson trial was taking place and where the jurors were deciding whether he was guilty of molesting a child or not. We wanted to see the fans with the banners outside, have a look around and then leave, to head off to Neverland. This is where Michael Jackson lives.
After we had been in Santa Maria for about an hour, people started screaming there was a verdict out. Within an hour, Michael would be at the courthouse to have the verdict read to him. It was a really hot afternoon and we were standing against these fences trying to get a glimpse of what was going on. We were interviewed by several reporters from different stations. After an hour, Michael finally arrived with his family, but we could hardly see him. All the reporters were standing in front of us unfortunately.
After 15 minutes or so, someone had a live feed of what was going on in the courtroom. 11 times in a row (there were 11 counts) we heard the verdict was innocent! Being long time Jackson fans we were really happy with the outcome. When Michael had left the court, we got in the car and went to Neverland. Apparently we were not the only ones!
There was a long line of cars parked, there were quite a number of TV stations present and helicopters were circling the area. We went up to the Neverland gates and took a couple of pictures of the fans, the gates itself and the surroundings.
Every few minutes a car would go out or get into the gates. In one of the cars, Michael’s laywer Messerau was present and we were able to get a good picture of him.
It was so incredibly hot, we had to walk back to the car and get something to drink. Realizing what time it was and how far we still had to drive to get to the L.A. KOA campground we decided to get a move on. We had to be there before 8PM, but the navigator said we needed more than 4 hours to get there, when it was already 4.30 PM.
The average speed limit here is 65mph, but I found out that if I drove 75 or more, we would just make it. And yes indeed, we were at the campground 10 minutes before 8. Good timing or what!
We quickly set up our tent and went to the swimmingpool and spa. That felt really good after a long hot day. We still had to make dinner afterwards and felt a cup of noodles would do.
DAY 10:
After breakfast, we made a list of things we wanted to see in Los Angeles today. There was Beverly Hills, Hollywood, West Coast Customs (From the MTV show ‘pimp my ride’) and Downtown Disney.
I must say driving in L.A. isn’t all that special. There is SO much smog in the air, it’s unbelievable. I bet those people have never seen a blue sky in their entire lifetime.
Beverly Hills is not what I expected it to be. There were nice big houses, mansions, palm trees, etc, but it’s different from what you see on TV. No movie stars or anything, or at least not where we were. We drove around, took some pictures and went to see the Hollywood sign. I found a website that explained how to get real close to this sign. They turned out to be right! We followed a couple of streets, went uphill and were able to park the car. There were several other people trying to do the same thing. This one girl asked if I could take a picture of her and her friend with the Hollywood sign in the back of it and in return she would take a picture of us too.
After this we went to West Coast Customs. It turned out to be real close to the L.A. airport. We were let in by a security guard and we went inside the office to take a couple of pictures. We saw ‘Q’ (manager) and then left again. Our last stop for today would be the ‘Downtown Disney’. It’s a place with a number of shops situated next to Disneyland.
None of the shops really had anything to do with the Disney theme, except for the Disney store itself. That store was awesome though. It had all kinds of Disney things, sweaters, t-shirts, music, movies, anything and everything Disney related, you name it!
After an hour of strolling around we went back to the car and went back ‘home’ (a.k.a. Tent). I asked the people at the front desk if I could charge the battery of my digital camera, because we have no electricity at the site. They agreed we could, so I left my things there and we went to a grocery store to get dinner for tonight. The site we are at now, does not have a picnic table or a fire ring, which doesn’t make it very easy to have breakfast or dinner. It’s a challenge to say the least. We made a stir-fry dish again tonight.
After this we went to the spa, very relaxing. And now we’re sitting in the car downloading the pictures of the camera and typing this entry for the weblog. It’s almost 11 PM and I must say I’m very tired.
Tomorrow we will have another long day ahead of us. We will go to Joshua Tree National Park and we will try to make reservations for the Needles KOA campground for tomorrow night. We will be driving for at least 4 hours tomorrow. The Needles campground is in the middle of the desert, so, AIRCO it is!
Well this is it for today… more to come!
This day we decided to go to the Santa Maria courthouse. It’s where the Michael Jackson trial was taking place and where the jurors were deciding whether he was guilty of molesting a child or not. We wanted to see the fans with the banners outside, have a look around and then leave, to head off to Neverland. This is where Michael Jackson lives.
After we had been in Santa Maria for about an hour, people started screaming there was a verdict out. Within an hour, Michael would be at the courthouse to have the verdict read to him. It was a really hot afternoon and we were standing against these fences trying to get a glimpse of what was going on. We were interviewed by several reporters from different stations. After an hour, Michael finally arrived with his family, but we could hardly see him. All the reporters were standing in front of us unfortunately.
After 15 minutes or so, someone had a live feed of what was going on in the courtroom. 11 times in a row (there were 11 counts) we heard the verdict was innocent! Being long time Jackson fans we were really happy with the outcome. When Michael had left the court, we got in the car and went to Neverland. Apparently we were not the only ones!
There was a long line of cars parked, there were quite a number of TV stations present and helicopters were circling the area. We went up to the Neverland gates and took a couple of pictures of the fans, the gates itself and the surroundings.
Every few minutes a car would go out or get into the gates. In one of the cars, Michael’s laywer Messerau was present and we were able to get a good picture of him.
It was so incredibly hot, we had to walk back to the car and get something to drink. Realizing what time it was and how far we still had to drive to get to the L.A. KOA campground we decided to get a move on. We had to be there before 8PM, but the navigator said we needed more than 4 hours to get there, when it was already 4.30 PM.
The average speed limit here is 65mph, but I found out that if I drove 75 or more, we would just make it. And yes indeed, we were at the campground 10 minutes before 8. Good timing or what!
We quickly set up our tent and went to the swimmingpool and spa. That felt really good after a long hot day. We still had to make dinner afterwards and felt a cup of noodles would do.
DAY 10:
After breakfast, we made a list of things we wanted to see in Los Angeles today. There was Beverly Hills, Hollywood, West Coast Customs (From the MTV show ‘pimp my ride’) and Downtown Disney.
I must say driving in L.A. isn’t all that special. There is SO much smog in the air, it’s unbelievable. I bet those people have never seen a blue sky in their entire lifetime.
Beverly Hills is not what I expected it to be. There were nice big houses, mansions, palm trees, etc, but it’s different from what you see on TV. No movie stars or anything, or at least not where we were. We drove around, took some pictures and went to see the Hollywood sign. I found a website that explained how to get real close to this sign. They turned out to be right! We followed a couple of streets, went uphill and were able to park the car. There were several other people trying to do the same thing. This one girl asked if I could take a picture of her and her friend with the Hollywood sign in the back of it and in return she would take a picture of us too.
After this we went to West Coast Customs. It turned out to be real close to the L.A. airport. We were let in by a security guard and we went inside the office to take a couple of pictures. We saw ‘Q’ (manager) and then left again. Our last stop for today would be the ‘Downtown Disney’. It’s a place with a number of shops situated next to Disneyland.
None of the shops really had anything to do with the Disney theme, except for the Disney store itself. That store was awesome though. It had all kinds of Disney things, sweaters, t-shirts, music, movies, anything and everything Disney related, you name it!
After an hour of strolling around we went back to the car and went back ‘home’ (a.k.a. Tent). I asked the people at the front desk if I could charge the battery of my digital camera, because we have no electricity at the site. They agreed we could, so I left my things there and we went to a grocery store to get dinner for tonight. The site we are at now, does not have a picnic table or a fire ring, which doesn’t make it very easy to have breakfast or dinner. It’s a challenge to say the least. We made a stir-fry dish again tonight.
After this we went to the spa, very relaxing. And now we’re sitting in the car downloading the pictures of the camera and typing this entry for the weblog. It’s almost 11 PM and I must say I’m very tired.
Tomorrow we will have another long day ahead of us. We will go to Joshua Tree National Park and we will try to make reservations for the Needles KOA campground for tomorrow night. We will be driving for at least 4 hours tomorrow. The Needles campground is in the middle of the desert, so, AIRCO it is!
Well this is it for today… more to come!
posted by Linda at
7:58 AM
2 Comments:
Hoi Lin,
We zien wel de letters van Hollywood maar jullie zijn opgelost!! hahaha nou met Cleo en Maja gaat het goed hoor. Cleo komt wel nieuwsgierig kijken vanonder het bed vandaan en die kleine heeft alleen maar de aandacht voor ETEN!! Heeft nog even lekker liggen knorren en kroelen bij je vader. Ze hadden ook het licht in de badkamer weer aangesprongen! lachen hé? enne gefeliciteerd met Michael z'n vrijspraak, we hebben nog goed gekeken bij het journaal maar zagen je niet...:-( groetjes ook aan Daniel? (zo heet ie toch?)
Sonja
By
Anonymous, at 8:49 PM
Licht in de badkamer aangesprongen? Ze vonden het zo langzamerhand zeker te donker worden :)
By
Linda, at 7:50 PM
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