A Whirlwind Trip to Arizona/Utah and the National Parks - COMPLETED 4/1/15 - Page 7 - 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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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.
Wow - didn't realize we had some new updates! Looks like you had some interesting weather - wind, and then snow! But it does make for interesting photos. I enjoyed the photos from your 3 hour hike - I'm sure your kids had no trouble keeping up with everyone else in the group.
Your photos are definitely making me want to get back to this area - we did Bryce and Zion, but didn't have time for all of the other areas.
WDW - August 1997 Off Property
WDW - January 2005 AKL
WDW - May 2006 Pop Century
WDW- november-dec 2007 pop century
WDW- dec/jan 2009/2010 pop century
WDW- oct/nov 2012 art of animation
WDW- sept 2013 port Orleans riverside
WDW- july 2015 beach club
Sorry for the long delay in finishing this trip report. We are leaving in 10 days for another trip out West which has given me the motivation to finish this one up. Not good practice when you're a trip report guide! Plus, I'm supposed to be doing the taxes and this was a diversion! And there was really only one day left! Thanks for reading along!
Thursday April 18, 2013 – Canyonlands NP and hiking to Delicate Arch (Arches NP)
In the morning we drove up to Canyonlands NP, which was about 45 minutes from downtown Moab, maybe a little more. It was another cold day, morning at least. We stopped at the Visitor Center to stamp our NP Passport, and then made our way thru the park.
Matt’s pictures:
I’m pretty sure we went back to the hotel to rest a bit before heading back into Arches to do the Delicate Arch hike. At the beginning of the trail is Wolfe Ranch, and there are some examples of rock art from years gone by.
Then we started the hike up. This is not an easy hike as you are going up around 500 feet over slickrock. Lots of starts and stops to rest! But this is what you get at the end…..
Matt’s pictures……………
Then we drove out of the park for the last time, getting some sunset shots along the way.
Don’t remember what we ate for dinner that night. I’m sure most of it was spent packing, as we were heading up to Salt Lake City in the morning.
We checked out of the hotel and headed out to Salt Lake City. I think it was about a 3 or 4 hour drive. We stopped for snacks along the way. I kept looking for an In-N-Out Burger place, but they never put their logo on the exit signs (for food/services) and then we’d pass the exit, and look, there’s an In-N-Out. Ugh!! Next time. We arrived at our hotel downtown (Hyatt Place) and trucked everything into the room. We then headed out to Temple Square to see the sights.
We then drove out to the Great Salt Lake so that we could say that we saw it!
We had a late lunch/dinner at a California Pizza Kitchen which was right near the hotel. Matt ended up going to an IMAX movie that was also right next to the hotel, the rest of us went back to the room and crashed.
Saturday, April 20, 2013 – Home!
We got up early at the hotel, which had a free breakfast (I’d highly recommend the hotel – more boutique like). We then headed to the airport, where we boarded our flights for the long journey home. Made it home without issue, and another vacation has come to an end.
Final Thoughts:
This was a great trip. It’s too bad that the weather was so cold in the Grand Canyon, Arches, and Canyonlands, but in retrospect, it was nice to hike in weather in the 40s and 50s instead of the 70s and 80s! I can’t say enough about the amazing sights in this area of the country and feel so blessed that we were able to experience it all. If you have the chance to get out to this part of the country, I’d highly recommend it. I spent a lot of time Trip Advisor researching how many days to spend at each location, and I think we had just about the right amount of time. It would have been nice to spend more time in Sedona instead of it being a passthru, but there’s always the next time, and when you travel during spring break, you are unfortunately more limited in your days. It was a great time of year to go, the crowds were very low as I’m guessing that the West Coast was not on the same spring break that we were on. Speaking of which, we are leaving in 10 days to experience the two NPs that I couldn’t fit into this trip (Zion and Bryce). With the new trip coming up, it has given me to the push to come back and finish this report up, seeing as I was so close.
Oh I am so glad you came back to finish off this trip report Marnie, as the photos are just stunning. I was also going to ask you if you'd be doing one for your forthcoming trip - I was really hoping so, as I know you'll be seeing more beautiful sights on that one.
Glad you finished this up, Marnie. What spectacular photos. It does look cold, but better cold than fog. Nothing worse than showing up at the Grand Canyon unable to see anything! You had beautiful blue skies and long views. I hope you'll write up this year's trip!
I'm glad you finally finished your report! You are going to LOVE Zion and Bryce. Ben and I had a fantastic trip to both of them last October. I highly recommend hiking the Narrows and the Canyon Overlook Trail in Zion. The kids will enjoy the Hike the Hoodoos Challenge at Bryce (we did, too)! Have a wonderful time!
Nice finish to your trip west! Great pictures of the Canyonlands, and Delicate Arch definitely makes the hike worth it. Salt Lake City looks great, too, especially your hotel. so much for sharing your trip with us.
Gorgeous pictures of Canyonlands and Arches! I need to get out to this area. DH and I drove through the area on a cross country trip, but didn't go to the NPs. I hope you write a TR for your next trip!
Great finish to your TR Marnie I thoroughly enjoyed seeing all the NP pictures and reading about the things that you did along the way. Your children have grown up so much since you started that TR back in 2013. I hope you get to share some of your experiencing of your upcoming trip when you return! Safe travels and enjoy
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.
Thanks for finishing the report. I look forward to your report on Bryce and Zion. They are two of my favorite parks-both stunning.
I am not sure you will be able to do it in spring break but there is a wonderful drive from route 9 called the Kolob Terrace Road. Wonderful views up and ending in a beuatiful green park area. I would love to fo all these parks again.
About This Page: 
Like
Thank
Pixie Dust
Plus, I'm supposed to be doing the taxes and this was a diversion! 
And there was really only one day left! 
Thanks for reading along! 
PassPorter Guide Author
Linear Mode
