Me, Muffin and Our Adventures in the West!! - Page 21 - 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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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.
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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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Tara, I am so sad to hear about Adrienne! I can tell from your TRs that she’s like family to you! Many pixies for things to get better for her! So very sad about your patient also, especially coming on such a rough week for you.
The photos at Yellowstone are beyond amazing and especially the Lower Falls! Perhaps, this is what the WL's Artists Point was named after. I'm guessing yes!
Thanks, Dave and you are correct!!
Quote:
Originally Posted by Cam22
Yellowstone is stunning. Sometimes I forget the variety of scenery there.
Your pictures are amazing! It's sometimes hard to believe that this awesomeness is part of our country. We are really lucky!!
Thanks, Lisa!! I couldn't have said that better!!
Quote:
Originally Posted by Colexis Mom
Oh my gosh Tara! :sob: Tons of prayers for Adrienne and for the loss of your patient and her son. Heartbreaking!
More beautiful pictures of Yellowstone!
Thanks, Marnie.
Quote:
Originally Posted by purplegal
Such beautiful scenery.
Thanks, Julia!!
Quote:
Originally Posted by pamcarey
Tara, I am so sad to hear about Adrienne! I can tell from your TRs that she’s like family to you! Many pixies for things to get better for her! So very sad about your patient also, especially coming on such a rough week for you.
Adrienne is very, very sick. She is home right now but the worst suspicions have been confirmed. She has Stage 4 ovarian cancer. This is a death sentence. It has metastasized to her kidneys and lungs. She is under the care of Penn medicine and the team is amazing. She is currently making decisions that no one should ever have to but again, Adrienne is the strongest most beautiful person that I know. I have been visiting every day and other than a few stupid medical things, I feel utterly helpless. We are all so scared.
I will post the next update in the next post because it somehow doesn't fit here.
Then we headed over to Mammoth Hot Springs. This is an adorable little town and the scenery is just incredible. We stopped at the visitor center and got a trail map and then decided that we needed to take a break for some food and drink so we headed to the gift shop/cafe. The thing of note here was that the serving girl was wearing pajamas!! I mean real pjs!! Muffin and I got such a kick out of this and I was trying to find an unobtrusive way to take her picture, but I couldn’t do it. Anyway!! We also bought a really nice coffee mug here as well as a Christmas ornament and a stuffed buffalo for Finn. We split a hotdog and a coke before heading to the Mammoth Trail.
This was again beyond description. There is a geyser here and several hot springs and geyser basins to see. The whole trail is about a mile and a half long and was absolutely wonderful!!
Muffin didn’t know how long it would take to drive to our next hotel, so we started our journey over that way, of course stopping for photos along the route. We made great time despite this and decided we didn’t want to leave the Park just yet so we pulled out our trusty park map and chose a southern loop this time. We
wound up on a one way loop called Fairy Falls and it was delightful!! Along the way, there was a place to swim and there were tons of people doing so. We were a little sad that we didn’t have our swim suits on because it looked like everyone was having a ball!
We made our way once again towards the Park exit and our last stop for the day was at Paint Pot, which was a spectacular way to end our visit to Yellowstone!! There were several geyser basins to see here along the two mile trek and the last Basin was called ‘Paint Pot’. We were immediately able to see why as it was mother mud spring but the natural elements made it look like paint!
We were so sad to leave Yellowstone National Park after just a day and a half of the most beautiful sights but we knew we had to continue on our journey. We are
so grateful for having seen this National Park which is truly a treasure and I can’t recommend going here enough!!
We stopped at Upper Geyser Basin:
And then drove to Firehole Falls:
It was so cool that people could swim here and we found ourselves wishing we had brought our swimsuits!
We also saw one more lone Bison:
Our last stop at Yellowstone was at Paint Pot:
This is Paint Pot:
We made our way out of Yellowstone into the town of West Yellowstone for the night.
We checked in at the Holiday Inn and after cleaning up, headed downstairs to The Branch. This is the hotel’s restaurant/bar. We weren’t sure what to expect but we were pleasantly surprised at both the food and drink offered here. We each got a burger and I got an IPA while Muffin got a Knob Creek on the rocks.
After enjoying our meal, we went into the small casino there. I do mean small as there were eight slot machines to choose from and there were two other people there already. We each had 20 bucks and came out of there with 157 dollars!! I cannot claim credit for winning this time.: It was Muffin who won 150 and me who won the 7!, This was in addition to the money we started with so we went up to our room with 197 dollars total!!
This was a great way to end a great day and we couldn’t have gone to sleep any happier!!!
Adrienne is very, very sick. She is home right now but the worst suspicions have been confirmed. She has Stage 4 ovarian cancer. This is a death sentence. It has metastasized to her kidneys and lungs. She is under the care of Penn medicine and the team is amazing. She is currently making decisions that no one should ever have to but again, Adrienne is the strongest most beautiful person that I know. I have been visiting every day and other than a few stupid medical things, I feel utterly helpless. We are all so scared.
I will post the next update in the next post because it somehow doesn't fit here.
I am so sorry that Adrienne has received such a devastating prognosis. I will be praying for her, her family, and for you, too. Praying you will all know peace.
I'm putting this in a separate post as well, as it doesn't feel right to put the two things together.
Mammoth Hot Springs is just beautiful, isn't it? I loved the feel of the whole place. You are continuing to bring back such wonderful memories of all the amazing sights we saw in Yellowstone.
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Just beautiful!
Perhaps, this is what the WL's Artists Point was named after. I'm guessing yes!
She is home right now but the worst suspicions have been confirmed. She has Stage 4 ovarian cancer. This is a death sentence. It has metastasized to her kidneys and lungs. She is under the care of Penn medicine and the team is amazing. She is currently making decisions that no one should ever have to but again, Adrienne is the strongest most beautiful person that I know. 
: It was Muffin who won 150 and me who won the 7!, 
This was in addition to the money we started with so we went up to our room with 197 dollars total!!
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