Springing back to Iceland to see it in the green! COMPLETED 6/29 - Page 25 - 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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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.
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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.
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.
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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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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.
It was and thankfully there was better to come that day.
Those rocks are so interesting. The scenery there is so beautiful. I'm not sure why the visitor's center was closed, though.
Liz
No, that was very odd, especially given it was the weekend, but maybe it was the fact that peak season in Iceland seems to start in May and maybe the fact it was only 30 April played into it?
You're covering a fair amount of terrain this time!
We are, but honestly you look at a map of Iceland and it's a frighteningly small amount of the country. There is still so much more we haven't seen there.
Love the lava formations in the park, which look so cool! Great scenery on your day which seems ever changing from one photo to the next! Too bad you didn't have the best luck with places you wanted to see being open!
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Love the lava formations in the park, which look so cool! Great scenery on your day which seems ever changing from one photo to the next! Too bad you didn't have the best luck with places you wanted to see being open!
You're right about the changing scenery and you just wait - there will be even more of that to come.
Sunday 30 April – part five: this atmosphere is a bit frosty now…
We set off again, making our way through the park. We saw some very different scenery as we drove along, although if I’m being 100% honest, it wasn’t as stunning as I’d been hoping. Say national park to me, and given our experiences in them, primarily in the States, I except something amazing. It was beautiful, don’t get me wrong, but compared to the Golden Circle tour, I’m not sure it was better.
Before we knew it, we were approaching this sign…
In fact, it came up so unexpectedly, Mark almost had to do an emergency stop! I was surprised at how small the park had been. I was expecting it to go on for a lot longer…
Almost as soon as we left the park, the rain started to come down, but bizarrely, there was also sunshine. I guess I shouldn’t really be surprised now, as this appears to be a regular thing in Iceland, but it’s just something that so rarely happens at home…
As you can see, the sky was quite foreboding in some of these shots. However, the irony was I felt we got better shots of the mountains after we left the park than the whole time we were in it. Maybe I’m being unfair, as the cloud would have contributed to some of the problems with seeing mountains, but it was just weird that the second you emerge, the views got better…
We then encountered large lumps of snow, right by the roadside!
Soon we were coming into Olafsvik…
I spotted a restaurant/café, called Hraun, and thought it looked good, so suggested we stop. If nothing else, I could use the restrooms, and I figured we both needed a little something. It turned out to be the top rated place in the town, and was also recommended in my guidebook. How about that for karma?
As we walked in, Mark asked if we might have a problem with people speaking English here. I spotted this, and said “I don’t think so!”
We ended up seated next to a group of four Australians, two couples, who were very nice and chatty… until they discovered that the 3:00pm ferry they had been due to catch from here apparently left at 9:00am, and there wasn’t another today. After that, the atmosphere between them got a little frosty, shall we say? At one point we heard one of the women tell the guys to stop squabbling!
The menu here was very expansive, just like the place we’d eaten in last night. Honestly, the menu was like a TARDIS, it was definitely bigger on the inside! As soon as I saw the lobster pizza, I had to try that. Oh wow, how have I made it this many years and never had lobster pizza? It was wonderful
Mark went for the buffalo burger and fries, which was made up of chicken in buffalo sauce, and I understand it had a little heat to it..
All in all, this was a great stopping off point, and much needed too.
Hraun
Entrée 9 8
Service 8 8
Atmosphere 8 8
Value for money 8½ 8
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OLAFsvik!! I wonder if in the winter time they make lots of snowmen in town....
That is kind of odd that the National Park didn't hold all the fantastic views you would expect it too. You've already enjoyed a lot of the country's scenery up till this point though!
Great choice for lunch. But the Australians who missed the ferry... that is weird. How does a 3pm ferry leave at 9am?! Hmmm....
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The ferry left six hours ahead of schedule?! Someone seems to have the wrong ferry schedule I think. Maybe the summer ones add a 3 pm?
I hope you'd see Olaf in town - he is the namesake, after all!
Oh, my! That 3 pm ferry issue brought to mind that age old question: "What time is the 3 pm parade?" How frustrating would that be, but, as mentioned, I'll bet it is on the summer schedule which hasn't quite kicked in.
OLAFsvik!! I wonder if in the winter time they make lots of snowmen in town....
Maybe?
Quote:
That is kind of odd that the National Park didn't hold all the fantastic views you would expect it too. You've already enjoyed a lot of the country's scenery up till this point though!
Great choice for lunch. But the Australians who missed the ferry... that is weird. How does a 3pm ferry leave at 9am?! Hmmm....
I have no idea! I felt quite sorry for them, as how would any of us deal with that?
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That was totally worth the drive out there.
Crazy that the visitor's centers are closed this day. 
Great scenery on your day which seems ever changing from one photo to the next! 
Too bad you didn't have the best luck with places you wanted to see being open! 
I was surprised at how small the park had been. I was expecting it to go on for a lot longer… 
It turned out to be the top rated place in the town, and was also recommended in my guidebook. How about that for karma? 
I wonder if in the winter time they make lots of snowmen in town.... 
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