National parks, natural beauty and a bit of Disney wonder! COMPLETED - Page 58 - 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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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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I love Zion, but I'm not sure a quick in and out tour will do it justice. Many of the most beautiful places are off the beaten path. Our favorite was the a road that entered the park from the other side of Springdale. On the drive up there were overlooks out to the canyons, a ranch with roaming cows and finally at the top a lake with landscape around it that reminded us of New England.
I was told the reason for no man's lands between population centers was the cost of water and utilities. It's why in the west you will often find clusters of fairly closely spaced residential areas.
Also, one of the things I do when traveling is get my cash at the cash register. Most places will give you a decent amount of cash with any purchase. So I buy something and pay with my debit card and get cash back. My bank charges $2.00 to use a "foreign" ATM and the other bank also charges a fee so I try to avoid those transactions.
Can't wait to see Monument Valley-we never made it there. Like you, we were not used to the distances between things in this area.
I'm sure there probably is a lot more to Zion than you can see in a day, but sadly we didn't have any longer than that. Your drive sounds wonderful, with the cows a great bonus!
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Great update - how strange that the ATM only spit out a $5.00 bill. Glad you were able to get the rest of your cash. Can't wait to read about Monument Valley - it is on the to do list!!
Wednesday 14 September – part three: “well, that doesn’t look at all bad”
We stopped for a photo of the sign at the entrance to Monument Valley, discovering how rough the dirt area was near it. It was a bit of a sign of things to come...
We paid our $10 entry – it’s $5 per adult here. By the way, this isn’t a national park, if you’re not aware, hence the difference entrance pricing structure. They also have a warning up to that effect, so I guess a lot of people do roll up, thinking it’s a national park. I guess it’s understandable, as it’s surrounded by so many.
We parked up and headed first to the outdoor viewing area, where we got our first glimpse of the scenic drive laid out beneath us. The literature we’d had had warned us that it was an unpaved drive with some big potholes. Mark looked at it and said the immortal words “well, that doesn’t look at all bad” and I have to confess, from there, it didn’t.
We headed inside to see the exhibits about Navajo life, which were really interesting.
Then it was into the gift shop to get a guidebook, fridge magnet, Christmas ornament and some postcards. My visit in there was cut short, as I went to use the restrooms and had an upset stomach, so I headed straight back to the car and took some tablets to be on the safe side, especially as we were about to head out into the wilderness for goodness knows how long... That helped a lot and I made it round fine.
Can you tell some of what they sold here?
When Mark made it to the car, we set off on our journey and I have to be honest, at the start, I really just wanted to turn round and give up. It was horribly bumpy and I was starting to get really freaked by a black cloud, as I could just imagine how much of a nightmare this place would be when it was wet and, once again, they had been forecasting thunderstorms for today.
Well, seeing as how the designated road wasn’t much to write home about, there was no way we were going off road!
We stopped off at the first couple of photo opportunities, which overlooked perhaps the most famous of all the buttes here, those are the Mittens and the Merrick Butte. Although the mittens seem as if they’ve been named for obvious reasons, originally they signified spiritual beings watching over the park. Merrick Butte has a really sad story to it. This and Mitchell Mesa to the left were both named after two prospectors who discovered silver in the park. The reason it’s sad is because they were killed by a band of the Ute tribe.
Looking back up towards the viewing area we’d started at The condition of the road through the park
Next: dogs, goats and some amazing rock formations
Wow, I gotta say, Monument Valley is the "national park" (even though it isn't one, technically) besides Yellowstone that appeals to me the most (out of those you visited on your trip). I can't explain why but it just looks amazing! I'm tentatively planning a trip to the western U.S. for 2014 and I'm definitely including Monument Valley
I finally got all caught up with your TR and once again I have to say your photos are just amazing!!! I can't get over how much you covered on this trip! Your lodging accomodations were all very nice (although the cabin that had no heat was adorable, I would not have been a happy camper when I woke up freezing!) You both are very adventurous travelers and I appreciate that you share all your stories with us!
Tanya
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That helped a lot and I made it round fine. 
It was horribly bumpy and I was starting to get really freaked by a black cloud, as I could just imagine how much of a nightmare this place would be when it was wet and, once again, they had been forecasting thunderstorms for today. 
I can't get over how much you covered on this trip!
You both are very adventurous travelers and I appreciate that you share all your stories with us!
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