July 1st 182/365 . . . The front gate at Neverland Ranch

First of all . . . we are finally back home in California! ;-) More about our road trip but I'll "chat" about our visit to Neverland since this seemed to be the highlight of our "going home." We had a good several hours before our trip back home from Santa Barbara so we had visited downtown Santa Barbara (again to see how it looked during the day) . . . afterward we went to Mission Santa Barbara, visited the quaint Dutch town of Solvang and the other mission in Santa Ynez. We knew that Neverland was in the small town of Los Olivos so since we were already around the Santa Ynez valley area, we decided to follow the signs to Los Olivos. Of course we didn't know how to get to Neverland so we stopped by at the market/deli in Los Olivos to grab a bite to eat . . . there were many reporters and folks just like us at the market. While I was paying for our lunch, I told one of the workers at the market that this place will be very busy on Friday for the "planned" public funeral for MJ. He said it was already getting busy and he asked me if I was one those people who would be there on Friday. I told him that we were just passing through and in the midst of our conversation I asked him he could give me the directions to Neverland . . . and that's how we found the place. . . movin' right along . . . by the time we got to the roads leading up to Neverland, they had closed the road. The hubs, AC and Toby stayed behind while JP and I decided to walk that 1.5 miles (in the low 90's, wearing a dress and sandals) to get to Neverland. This also meant another 1.5 miles back down. JP said it was a once in a lifetime event so he didn't mind the walk if I didn't mind. After reaching about half way, several cars were passing us by. I told JP they were probably press vehicles. . . more cars came right after each other . . . that's when we realized they probably opened the road. We so desperately wanted to "hitch-hike" our way but we knew it wouldn't happen . . . we had a feeling that the hubs would soon follow suit and there he was . . . with his headlights on and beeping his horn. We quickly got inside the car and was glad we didn't have to trek the rest of the way up there. (Many had already gone before us by foot and were trying to get a ride back down.)

I had to practically push and squeeze my way to the front of the gate because there were so many people in front of it so it was difficult to take the picture . . buy I managed. I was even told by one of the security guard who was on the other side of the gate to stay back as I was too close to the sensor. BTW . . he even gave me a gently push and told me to move. What can I say? I was determined to take the picture without anyone around the gate. Well, it's been a long day so this is all for now . . . I'm just glad I was able to "pay" tribute to MJ.