Gatlinburg ... a Practically Unplanned Adventure! June 27 - July 5, 2009 - Page 17 - PassPorter - A Community of Walt Disney World, Disneyland, Disney Cruise Line, and General Travel Forums
As of January 1, 2019, we have closed our forums. This is a decision we did not come to lightly, but it is necessary. The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk. The server software itself must be updated, and it cannot be without removing the forums.
So it is with a heavy heart that we say goodbye to our long-running forums. They came online in 2000 and brought together so many wonderful Disney fans. We had friendships form, careers launch, couples marry, children born ... all because of this amazing community.
Thank you to each of you who were a part of this community. You made it possible.
And a very special thank you to our Guides (moderators), past and present, who kept our forums a happy place to be. You are the glue that held everything together, and we are forever grateful to you. Thank you aliceinwdw, Caldercup, MrsM, WillCAD, Fortissimo, GingerJ, HiddenMickey, CRCrazy, Eeyoresmom, disneyknut, disneydani, Cam22, chezp, WDWfan, Luvsun, KMB733, rescuesk, OhToodles!, Colexis Mom, lfredsbo, HiddenMickey, DrDolphin, DopeyGirl, duck addict, Disneybine, PixieMichele, Sandra Bostwick, Eeyore Tattoo, DyanKJ130, Suzy Q'Disney, LilMarcieMouse, AllisonG, Belle*, Chrissi, Brant, DawnDenise, Crystalloubear, Disneymom9092, FanOfMickey, Goofy4Goofy, GoofyMom, Home4us123, iamgrumpy, ilovedisney247, Jennifer2003, Jenny Pooh, KrisLuvsDisney, Ladyt, Laughaholic88, LauraBelle Hime, Lilianna, LizardCop, Loobyoxlip, lukeandbrooksmom, marisag, michnash, MickeyMAC, OffKilter_Lynn, PamelaK, Poor_Eeyore, ripkensnana, RobDVC, SHEANA1226, Shell of the South, snoozin, Statelady01, Tara O'Hara, tigger22, Tink and Co., Tinkerbelz, WDWJAMBA, wdwlovers, Wendyismyname, whoSEZ, WildforWD, and WvuGrrrl. You made the magic.
We want to personally thank Sara Varney, who coordinated our community for many years (among so many other things she did for us), and Cheryl Pendry, our Message Board Manager who helped train our Guides, and Ginger Jabour, who helped us with the PassPorter-specific forums and Live! Guides. Thank you for your time, energy, and enthusiasm. You made it all happen.
There are other changes as well.
Why? Well, the world has changed. And change with it, we must. The lyrics to "We Go On" for IllumiNations say it best:
We go on to the joy and through the tears
We go on to discover new frontiers
Moving on with the current of the years.
We go on
Moving forward now as one
Moving on with a spirit born to run
Ever on with each rising sun.
To a new day, we go on.
It's time to move on and move forward.
PassPorter is a small business, and for many years it supported our family. But the world changed, print books took a backseat to the Internet, and for a long time now it has been unable to make ends meet. We've had to find new ways to support our family, which means new careers and less and less time available to devote to our first baby, PassPorter.
But eventually, we must move on and move forward. It is the right thing to do.
So we are retiring this newsletter, as we simply cannot keep up with it. Many thanks to Mouse Fan Travel who supported it all these years, to All Ears and MousePlanet who helped us with news, to our many article contributors, and -- most importantly -- to Sara Varney who edited our newsletter so wonderfully for years and years.
And we are no longer charging for the Live Guides. If you have a subscription, it's yours to keep for the lifetime of the Live Guides at no additional cost. The Live Guides will stay online, barring server issues and technical problems, for all of 2019.
That said, PassPorter is not going away. Most of the resources will remain online for as long as we can support them, and after that we will find ways to make whatever we can available. PassPorter means a great deal to us, and to many of you, and we will do our best to keep it alive in whatever way we can. Our server costs are high, and they'll need to come out of our pockets, so in the future you can expect some changes so we can bring those costs down.
Thank you, thank you, thank you for your amazing support over the years. Without you, there's no way us little guys could have made something like this happen and given the "big guys" a run for their money. PassPorter was consistently the #3 guidebook after the Unofficial and Official guides, which was really unheard of for such a small company to do. We ROCKED it thanks to you and your support and love!
If you miss us, you can still find some of us online. Sara started a new blog at DisneyParkPrincess.com -- I strongly urge you to visit and get on her mailing list. She IS the Disney park princess and knows Disney backward and forward. And I am blogging as well at JenniferMaker.com, which is a little craft blog I started a couple of years ago to make ends meet. You can see and hear me in my craft show at https://www.youtube.com/c/jennifermaker . Many PassPorter readers and fans are on Facebook, in groups they formed like the PassPorter Trip Reports and PassPorter Crafting Challenge (if you join, just let them know you read about it in the newsletter). And some of our most devoted community members started a forum of their own at Pixie Dust Lane and all are invited over.
So we encourage you to stay in touch with us and your fellow community members wherever works best for you!
Welcome! We're happy you've found the PassPorter Community -- the friendliest place to plan your vacation to Walt Disney World, Disney Cruise Line, Disneyland, and the world in general! You are now viewing the PassPorter Message Board Community as a guest, which gives you limited access. As our guest, feel free to browse our messages by selecting the forum you want to visit from the list below.
To post messages and ask questions, join our FREE community today and you'll get access to tools and resources not available to guests, such as our vacation countown timers, "living" avatars, private messaging system, database searches, downloads, and a special PassPorter discount code. Registration is fast, simple, and completely free. Just click the Join Our Community link.
If you think you've already joined, log in below now. If you don't remember your member name or password, please visit our Member Name and Password Recovery page. You are also welcome to contact us.
PassPorter's Free-Book to Walt Disney World It’s hard to believe anything is free at Walt Disney World; but there are actually a number of things you can get or do for little to no cost. This e-book documents over 200 free or cheap tips to do before you go and after you arrive. You could save a considerable amount of money following these tips. Perhaps more importantly; you can discover overlooked attractions and little-known details most people whiz by on their way to spend money. Click here to see free sample pages from the e-book! Get this popular e-book free of extra charges when you join the PassPorter's Club for as little as $4.95. A club pass includes access to all our other e-books; e-worksheets; super-size photos; and more! This e-book is also available for separate purchase in the PassPorter Online Store for just $5.95.
Registered Message Board Members Get Our Free Newsletter! When you register you'll have the option to sign up for our weekly PassPorter Newsletter. It's chock-full of feature articles; news; tips; contests; photos; and special offers in our online store.
Finally got caught up. The mountains are just beautiful. I think the Cosby trail is my favorite of the ones you've done so far. Glad you had fun bowling and Joshua and Jay enjoyed driving the go carts. You must be busy, but I hope you're back with more soon!
__________________
Mickey's so happy to see me back, he can barely contain himself!
You guys are the greatest! Do I need to reintroduce myself? Well, starting back to work, even my very little part-time job, I guess just threw me completely off my routine. And I had gotten so lazy over the summer, just doing whatever I wanted to do, whenever I wanted to do it. Anyway, I feel like I'm starting to get caught up a little bit with various things, and yes I do plan to finish this trip report. Now that I've checked back in to see where I left off, I will go work on the next part of it and hope to start posting again soon. It definitely won't be on as regular a basis as what I had been doing, but I'll make it through to the end one of these days. I've got two more trips planned in the next 45 days, so I can't afford to drop the ball completely!
Quote:
Originally Posted by Meggera
What a fun evening in Gatlinburg. I can't get over the 16 oz. burger though. Oh my goodness! You could have split it three ways! Great updates!
Laura, I should have split it 3 ways! Even after just half of it, I was so stuffed! But it was so good ...
Quote:
Originally Posted by MGW
Hope everything is OK, I was waiting for another update. My DS had his first Bear Den meeting on Sunday!
How is he doing in Bears? Getting together my lesson plans for Wolves, I also looked at the requirements for the other levels of Cub Scouts, and I'm excited about getting started in Bears next year. That sounds crazy, since we're just starting Wolves! Have you been keeping up with my blog? That's the only thing I've been keeping current on here, and if it hadn't been for all the work I've put into it previously, I don't know that I would have been able to discipline myself to do that. But this is the only place where I've got all my scout stuff written down at the moment, so I hated to just let it go! Joshua just earned his first bead, and will have his second bead in a few more weeks. We've got our second campout of the year coming up soon, the Polar Bear!
Scouts is going well so far this year. I went on a bike ride with them a few weeks ago, on a beautiful Autumn Sunday, so that was fun. Unfortunately we can't do most campouts, they are always Saturday night, and DH just can't do that the night before he preaches! Not that he really wants to camp out anyway!
Looking forward to the next TR installment.
__________________
Donning my Wellies to cut Peat in Scotland
Melissa
Thanks all! Now the big question is going to be if I remember how to post pictures! Here we go ...
Day 6 - Thursday, July 2
We woke up, ate breakfast in the room, and prepared our bags and coolers for another outing in the National Park. Today was the day we were going to drive over toward Cherokee to do things. We left the resort around 7:45, and by 8:00 we were making our way into the Park via the main entrance. We planned to drive straight through, stopping here and there for photos, but no trails for right now - we had a lot of driving ahead of us! Our first stop was the Morton Overlook, which is almost to Newfound Gap. It's been so long since I updated that I feel the need to explain once again that Newfound Gap is the high point of the road, and also on the state line of Tennessee and North Carolina. Anyway, we stopped at Morton Overlook because it is one of the better views in the park.
Ignore, if you can, all the graffiti
This is looking West(ish) in the morning, so it's a little dark. But I think the sky is a pretty color.
This is pretty much the same view as the first picture, but I guess I had moved up to the edge of the barricade, because now you can see the road below, right in the center.
A car came along at just the right moment - I had zoomed in on the road below us, where we had come in a few minutes earlier.
Jay stayed in the truck during these quickie stops, and sometimes he took a few shots through my open window while he was otherwise just sitting there.
He thought these three pictures were so cool ...
These next few were taken from the Oconaluftee Valley Overlook just past Newfound Gap, looking East(ish) onto the North Carolina side.
Jay's from the same location:
This one I love because of the bright green - it is looking back toward Newfound Gap, which is just around the curve.
And some pictures I took while we were driving down the North Carolina side of the park.
The view from the Deep Creek Overlook is spectacular - these are actually taken from two different, but adjacent overlooks. I love the patterns the clouds make on the trees below, makes me think of a patchwork quilt.
And one more stop, this time at Webb Overlook.
More pictures taken while driving, I didn't want to use up any more time stopping. The quality of these shots are not as good, and there's quite a bit of windshield and window glare in them, but it will give you an idea of descending the mountainside.
Do you see the truck coming toward us in that picture above? I had put my camera down in my lap to wait until it passed, so that it wouldn't be in my next picture. And do you know what happened next? Just as soon as I snapped that picture and lowered my camera, a bear walked out of the woods from the left and came almost right up to the road. I was so stunned that I couldn't even think about raising my camera to get its picture. It turned around before it got to the road and went back toward the woods. The last thing on my mind this morning was seeing a bear, I was just trying to get some good scenery pictures. And of course when we were in areas that I was expecting to have lots of animals, we hardly saw any! We did have an encounter later today that made up for my missed bear picture, so you'll have to stay tuned to hear about that.
About This Page: 
PassPorter Guide Author
Like
Thank
Pixie Dust
Oh my goodness! You could have split it three ways! Great updates!
Have you been keeping up with my blog? That's the only thing I've been keeping current on here, and if it hadn't been for all the work I've put into it previously, I don't know that I would have been able to discipline myself to do that. But this is the only place where I've got all my scout stuff written down at the moment, so I hated to just let it go! Joshua just earned his first bead, and will have his second bead in a few more weeks. We've got our second campout of the year coming up soon, the Polar Bear!
Can't wait to hear about the "encounter". LOL
Linear Mode
