National parks, natural beauty and a bit of Disney wonder! COMPLETED - Page 35 - 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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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.
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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That is a really cool visitor's center! I don't recall that at all when I was a kid. I'm sure the chance to feel the animals' fur is a huge draw for the kids (and adults too)!
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You know, if you start forgetting to do your daily updates you're going to end up on Princess Sharon's list of slackers! Anyway, the water in Jenny Lake was so clear. Just makes you want to jump right in! Can't wait to hear about the next leg of your trip.
I know - heaven forbid! Usually when I'm away for the night, it's no issue, as I just e-mail myself at work the installment to put up, but I haven't stayed away for so long, I kept going through everything I needed to take with me - and totally forgot this!
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Quote:
Originally Posted by chezp
You'd have to ask Terri that, as it was a present from her... although I did see them at most of the National Parks shops we went to - and incidentally that's usually where you get the stamps as well.
Sunday 11 September – part five: this is seriously the middle of nowhere!
We set off again and soon we were on what was called Scenic Highway 189 and we could see why. We had some stunning views as we drove along.
However, it was also a pretty boring drive and we did start to wonder whether the GPS was sending us the right way, as we kept seeing cars coming towards us, but nothing going our way.
By the time we were into the mountains and had no cell phone signal and were seeing towns (if you can call them that ) with just 110 marked as the population, we realised that we really were in the middle of nowhere. It probably sounds very naive, but I had o idea just how big a state Wyoming is. It seemed to stretch forever.
Eventually, the road peeled off and we headed south and then we did start to see some evidence of slightly bigger towns – alright, so only about 400 or 700 people, but it was a start....
Finally, we found people going our way as well and even saw a fleet of sports cars coming towards us, just as it started to rain, hence the not so great photos I got of them.
Fortunately, the rain was soon over and the sun was back, which was just as well, as we really were entering cow country. We’d seen a few earlier, but now saw literally hundreds, the vast majority of them all completely black and some right by the road. It was as if they knew I was coming and came up to say hello!
The next stretch of road took us by a huge lake. As Mark said, it was suddenly like being at the seaside.
We talked about the desolation out here and how, if you were a city dweller, there was no way you could live here, with literally nothing around you for miles. It’s weird how America has developed, with cities in certain places, then huge expanses of nothingness. Yes, I know other countries have that too, but America has more than most, thanks to its sheer size. And from what we could see here, there was no reason not to develop. Mind you, I guess we weren’t visiting in the winter, and then it could be a very different story.....
It's amazing, especially living in the over-populated Northeast, to see those wide, open spaces and towns of only 100 people. Even living in what we call "the country" you just dont get expanses like that!
Beautiful pictures of your drive Cheryl! There are a lot of areas in the U.S. that have long stretches of nothingness I bet those areas that you were driving through could be tough terrain to drive in the dead of winter! It's so pretty to see those majestic mountains and lakes though
It's amazing, especially living in the over-populated Northeast, to see those wide, open spaces and towns of only 100 people. Even living in what we call "the country" you just dont get expanses like that!
I so hear you - especially as we're from a very crowded and small country!
I bet it looks totally different now, all covered in snow. Even more lonely!
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Beautiful pictures of your drive Cheryl! There are a lot of areas in the U.S. that have long stretches of nothingness I bet those areas that you were driving through could be tough terrain to drive in the dead of winter! It's so pretty to see those majestic mountains and lakes though
I hadn't thought of what it might be like in winter.
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Anyway, the water in Jenny Lake was so clear. Just makes you want to jump right in! Can't wait to hear about the next leg of your trip.
Usually when I'm away for the night, it's no issue, as I just e-mail myself at work the installment to put up, but I haven't stayed away for so long, I kept going through everything I needed to take with me - and totally forgot this! 
although I did see them at most of the National Parks shops we went to - and incidentally that's usually where you get the stamps as well.
) with just 110 marked as the population, we realised that we really were in the middle of nowhere. It probably sounds very naive, but I had o idea just how big a state Wyoming is. It seemed to stretch forever. 
We’d seen a few earlier, but now saw literally hundreds, the vast majority of them all completely black and some right by the road. It was as if they knew I was coming and came up to say hello! 
I bet those areas that you were driving through could be tough terrain to drive in the dead of winter! It's so pretty to see those majestic mountains and lakes though
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