National parks, natural beauty and a bit of Disney wonder! COMPLETED - Page 35 - 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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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!
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Sunday 4 September – part three: that’s an expensive anniversary present!
We headed back to the room to drop our new purchases off and to enjoy a bit of relaxation before we had to head out for our shore excursion. Then it was off to meet up with our excursion group...
When we met in the Walt Disney Theatre, it quickly became apparent that this was going to be a very small tour group. As well as ourselves, there was Gill from New Jersey and a Chinese family, who now live in Vancouver. When the kid started screaming, we were very glad to be told that it would be the three adults on one flight and the family of four on the other.
We headed off the ship and met Eric on our VIP bus....
He was very good at explaining what we were seeing, including a totem pole in the front garden of a house that a husband bought for his wife as a fiftieth anniversary present. He told us that these cost $2,000 a foot.
We also drove past Creek Street, which used to be the red light district and saw Dolly House from a distance, one of the most well known such establishments.
We even saw an eagle’s nest and two eagles as we drove along...
Here’s the price of gas in this part of Alaska:
Finally, the road ran out and turned more into a dirt track, which was fun to negotiate. Soon we were at George Inlet Lodge, which was truly a beautiful place.
First we had to descend 79 steps. Thank goodness we wouldn’t have to go back up them again, as we’d be flying out. That was a relief!
As I say, it’s a stunning place and was moved over here from its original spot 100 miles away.
We were met by Anna, who did a very good job looking after us during our meal in our own private dining room, which was very cool.
We loved these salt and pepper shakers, but they did look a bit rude...
While I'm sure that's a nice anniversary gift, I'm not sure it's the most practical...
Beautiful views from the lodge. I wonder though, is there any restaurant in Alaska that doesn't have you dining with.... uh... animals or their skins?
__________________
Tanya
Every click helps feed .6 bowls of food to rescued animals. Give a quick click every day and help animals in shelters! www.theanimalrescuesite.com
While I'm sure that's a nice anniversary gift, I'm not sure it's the most practical...
Beautiful views from the lodge. I wonder though, is there any restaurant in Alaska that doesn't have you dining with.... uh... animals or their skins?
No, it's not exactly practical is it? And I'm with you about the animals and the skins - they did seem to crop up a lot everywhere we went...
Sunday 4 September – part four: crab feasting and flightseeing
We started out with salad with mandarins in, which was very unusual, but worked very well. That was accompanied by crackers with salmon and cream cheese mixed with ranch dressing, which I couldn’t get enough of. I think I got seconds and thirds...
Then the main part that we’d all come for – the crab feast itself. Anna demonstrated how to get into the crabs, which was a very daunting prospect for me, as this is something I’ve just never been able to do. : However, with some expert tuition, I got there in the end, which was a relief. The crabmeat was so good, it was worth all the trouble to get into it. I can honestly say it was the best crab I’ve ever had.
It was accompanied by your choice of beer, soft drink or white wine and I opted for the latter. It was all finished off by cheesecake, topped with Alaskan blueberries. I wasn’t expecting much from it, as we’re not fans of American cheesecake, but this was pretty good stuff.
As we were finishing up eating, we heard a pounding sound and, sure enough, it was now raining heavily outside. I couldn’t believe our luck, as it had been beautiful weather on the way over here. If only we’d been able to fly out and then eat, but unfortunately that wasn’t how it worked out....
We left via the gift shop and I got a couple of laser die cuts in there for my scrapbook at amazingly low prices. I can’t believe how much scrapbooking stuff is available everywhere in Alaska. It’s so good to see.
They came to find us in there to take us down to get our floatplane. We were taken to a little fishing hut, so we could shelter and I took some photos through the belting rain.
Our plane arrives
We were called off, as it was our own plane and we were told we could sit anywhere. I opted to sit up front with our pilot Gary.
I must admit, when we took off, I thought that the whole flight was just going to be a complete waste of time, as the windows were covered in rain, and it was impossible to take any photos. I got lots and lots of photos at first like this one...
... but then the cloud cleared and suddenly the rain was gone from the windows and I got some better shots. We flew over the Tongass National Forest, which we were told is the largest in the US – at least I think that’s what I remember. It certainly seemed to go on forever, at least as far as the eye could see. I was just amazed at the beauty of all it. Eric, our bus driver on the way down, had talked about spotting the smallest detail, rather than the enormity of it all and now I could see what he meant.
Much as I loved the scenery, the ride was a little bit bouncy in places and there was no warning whatsoever. A couple of times, my stomach literally lurched from beneath me, which wasn’t a good feeling and especially not when trying to take photos. I could just about see behind me and realised Mark wasn’t taking photos or videoing, so I knew he wasn’t doing so well....
Soon we were coming into land on the water, in the same strip of water that we’d sailed through earlier in the day. I must admit, when we started out, I thought that 25 minutes would be nowhere near long enough, but now I was glad that this was almost over.
The landing was exceptionally smooth and I was fascinated by the whole process, this being my first ever landing on water.
I think we were both quite relieved to get back on to dry land. Mark’s description was that his head was pounding. I was doing better, but feeling a little disorientated and it was starting to feel as if I was sickening for a cold, which was not a good sign. :
Mark was cheered up though to spot this boat – it didn’t mean much to me, but it did to him, as he watches the Deadliest Catch, whereas I don’t.
Wonderful lunch and amazing photos from the flight. I hope you and Mark recovered quickly from the effects of the rough (fortunately short!) flight. And I hope you're not starting a cold!
Whew, I just sighed a great sigh of relief with that landing.... on the WATER!!! Beautiful photos, wonderful experience, but just reading about it made me nervous!!! Lunch sounded delicious though, glad you enjoyed the cheesecake this time! How lucky to spot the Cornelia Marie!! That's so cool!! I'm a fan of that show myself (can't wait for it to start again in a few months, but they're actually out there crab-fishing at this moment).
__________________
Tanya
Every click helps feed .6 bowls of food to rescued animals. Give a quick click every day and help animals in shelters! www.theanimalrescuesite.com
Skip loves that show too. I really don't care for it at all. But he just goes nuts watching it. He is really into a lot of the new Alaskan shows lately, and I guess it's a good thing, because I have mentioned cruising to Alaska, and he sounded more interested in it. Unfortunately, the time they sail there is bad for him, as it is busy season for farming. But maybe someday now, we may look into it.
Skip loves that show too. I really don't care for it at all. But he just goes nuts watching it. He is really into a lot of the new Alaskan shows lately, and I guess it's a good thing, because I have mentioned cruising to Alaska, and he sounded more interested in it. Unfortunately, the time they sail there is bad for him, as it is busy season for farming. But maybe someday now, we may look into it.
At least you're starting to get this interest. Having such a short season is a problem, especially with a job like that.
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: However, with some expert tuition, I got there in the end, which was a relief. The crabmeat was so good, it was worth all the trouble to get into it. I can honestly say it was the best crab I’ve ever had. 
I couldn’t believe our luck, as it had been beautiful weather on the way over here. If only we’d been able to fly out and then eat, but unfortunately that wasn’t how it worked out.... 
I could just about see behind me and realised Mark wasn’t taking photos or videoing, so I knew he wasn’t doing so well.... 
Lunch sounded delicious though, glad you enjoyed the cheesecake this time! How lucky to spot the Cornelia Marie!! That's so cool!! 
I'm a fan of that show myself (can't wait for it to start again in a few months, but they're actually out there crab-fishing at this moment).
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