Springing back to Iceland to see it in the green! COMPLETED 6/29 - Page 24 - 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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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.
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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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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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That horse owner is probably like "dang it Thunder! You keep escaping!" Good thing there's not huge amounts of traffic for the horse to worry about.
I see those isolated houses there near the lava fields and wonder - what do these people do for a living? They can't all be farmers/horse owners. Or that's their summer homes maybe and they live in the city.
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Tanya
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You are correct, looking at the pictures I can understand your comment about regretting taking this drive. The dreariness of the weather and the desolation of the landscape add to the level of regret. I can see that it could be beautiful if it was greener and if the sky was clear. The grey of the sky and the landscape certainly add to the feeling of depression. I cannot imagine living there. I hope that the weather improves as your trip goes on.
I'm sure he did. He probably does that sort of thing all the time.
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Those lava fields are impressive and I know what you mean about having an eerie sort of feeling. We walked on some in Hawaii and I also had that weird sensation. I love your selfie by the sea!!
At least in Hawai'i though, you have palm trees around, rather than this sort of scenery. I think there's something a lot more eerie about Iceland's landscape.
That horse owner is probably like "dang it Thunder! You keep escaping!"
That's probably about right!
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Good thing there's not huge amounts of traffic for the horse to worry about.
In a way though, it's worse as presumably they just get complacent and think they can wander anywhere they like?
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I see those isolated houses there near the lava fields and wonder - what do these people do for a living? They can't all be farmers/horse owners. Or that's their summer homes maybe and they live in the city.
I wondered that too and honestly, I have no idea whatsoever. I just couldn't see any form of industry or employment around there.
You are correct, looking at the pictures I can understand your comment about regretting taking this drive. The dreariness of the weather and the desolation of the landscape add to the level of regret. I can see that it could be beautiful if it was greener and if the sky was clear. The grey of the sky and the landscape certainly add to the feeling of depression. I cannot imagine living there.
Neither can I.
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I hope that the weather improves as your trip goes on.
Well, it sort of did and didn't. That's the best way to describe it... stay tuned.
So different from the beach area with the black sand!
I can't imagine living there, though. That's one of the things we discuss/think about in our travels - would we want to live there. Lots of places have been easy to imagine: Norway, England, Denmark, but not thinking Iceland would make our cut.
So different from the beach area with the black sand!
Oh it is. It's a country with varied scenery.
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I can't imagine living there, though. That's one of the things we discuss/think about in our travels - would we want to live there. Lots of places have been easy to imagine: Norway, England, Denmark, but not thinking Iceland would make our cut.
We do the same. We love Switzerland, but I'm not sure I'd like to live there in the winter. Florida's too hot in the summer. The closest I think we came was Hawai'i, but it's in the middle of nowhere (literally!) and I don't think we could cope with having to fly for so long to get to places....
Sunday 30 April – part four: we’re not doing well with our choices of places to stop
We set off again, through the lava fields…
… and it was only here that we actually entered the national park. I was surprised the entrance was so far along, given how much we’d already driven through that I assumed was national park land.
We were going to head over to see Londrangar, but it started to rain just as we pulled up, so we took that as a sign. Instead, we snapped some photos in the parking lot, and then a few more as we drove along, and I think in fairness, you probably got just as good views from the road as if you’d walked up to them.
We decided to head to the Snaefellsjokull National Park visitor centre, which was right next to this lighthouse…
However, when we got there, this also seemed to be closed. Wow, we’re really not doing well with our choices of places to stop at today.
We set off again…
Our next stop was Djupalonssandurbeach. The aim here was to see four lifting stones on the beach, which were used to measure the strength of fishermen, but in fairness we didn’t really see them. However, it didn’t matter, as the views were stunning without seeing them. We decided not to go down to the beach, as although it was only 300 metres, it was a fair bit of climbing down, and I wasn’t convinced my ankle would react well to that. Instead, we walked the 50 metres along the disabled walkway, which we were really impressed with. Anyone in a wheelchair could come along here and still be able to see the beach.
We were there for a few minutes on our own, taking photos, and taking in the whole view. It was beautifully silent here, and even the wind wasn’t too bad.
As you can see from these photos, someone wasn’t content to stay on the wheelchair walkway. Thank goodness the goat (otherwise known as my husband) made it back in one piece, unlike in Northern Ireland, where he managed to roll his ankle…
Just as others started to arrive, we decided to head back, and we had good timing for once, as it started to rain quite heavily on the way back. It felt like icicles hitting me, and who knows, it could’ve been! We made our way out, marvelling at the fact there were now seven cars here. There had only been two others where we arrived. Where had everyone come from all of sudden? I guess we weren’t the only people to decide to come out here today.
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Bummer the visitor centre was closed, but it worked out with the timing of the rain later on!
The beach is just stunning. It's so neat to see a beach like that! That was totally worth the drive out there.
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Tanya
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