Yes! Grizzly bears nearby. But Nolemana and I had no time to see them, and really, did I want to see a caged one? Nope. So we continued on our way, still heading east. Gotta say that cuz get mauka all around us!

Warning: get choke mountain photos!

Like I’ve said, I’m an island girl, born and raised, and I love having the ocean all around me. But seeing these majestic mountains was absolutely thrilling, especially with all the snow on them.

We were really glad that the snowfall hadn’t been really deep, otherwise we wouldn’t have been able to make such good time along the way.

I was actually glad we’d had the snow because it gave us a look at these mountains in a way we’d never have been able to see had there been none.

Okay, I made a mistake uploading the last videos and got them out of order. So in the interest of keeping everything the way it should be, I’m putting a couple of them back in according to where we were. This way you no going get lost, yeah? Heh heh.

The clear skies made for absolutely stunning vistas.

I wonder who lives here; do they stay all year ’round and deal with all the snow, or do they leave for part of the time?

We’re still heading East. Who knows wea we stay going but East?

I loved seeing the blue skies; there was absolutely no snow on the road and driving was easy. 75 miles an hour here.

It was still pretty cold outside, but we were warm and cozy in the car.

We were getting close to the town of Livingston now. Another thing I was loving about this trip was learning about towns that I’d never heard of before. Kinda like the stories that Cousin and Auntie had told me that I’d never heard before.

While driving along, I had a lot of time to think about our visit with my “new” ‘ohana. Because my mom was so reticent about our family, I felt as though all I had were a bunch of puzzle pieces that wouldn’t fit together. And it was like that in some ways for Auntie and Cousin, too. They had their own set of puzzle pieces. And guess what? When we put them together, family pictures and stories began to emerge! I drove along still feeling like I’d hit the mother lode.

I was so thrilled about that I felt I could climb up to the tops of these majestic mountains! I’d never even seen the Rocky Mountains before, and now, here they were!

I can see why the early pioneers would’ve felt intimidated at the thought of getting over these mountains! It was pretty easy for us in a car and all, but in a covered wagon?

Now we’re almost to Livingston.

And here’s the right video.

Just hit the pause button and check out the mountains again. I never get tired of watching these videos! We are now a mile from Livingston.

Seeing this fairly large freeway sign up against the Rocky Mountains lets me know in a hurry that the sign is tiny compared to them.

We’re still on the freeway, but pretty soon going get off and head into town.

These mountains just took my breath away. I felt like this tiny little ant in comparison.

Notice anything different about this off-ramp?

I loved it! No doubt we’re in cattle country here. Sorry nomo da pīpī in da peecha but. There were so many new things to experience on this trip, and the cattle guard here was only one of them.

Now we were heading into Livingston. It hadn’t been snowing at all, but it was so cold that the snow never melted from our car.

And here we are, coming into Livingston. Which I’d never even heard of before.

It even had stoplights! And a really pretty park to the left.

One of the things I love about visiting new towns, no matter where they are, is getting to see things that make them unique. This store is one of them. Love it!

I also loved, as usual, all the old buildings.

Here’s some information about the town if you’d like to know more about it.

As usual, we only had time to drive through town without stopping. We still had a long day’s driving ahead of us. If we’re ever back this way, and I hope we are, I’d like to get out of the car and do some exploring.

There was a gigantic grain elevator there.

Scallop Benedict? Hmm… I have to give that some thought. I love scallops, but as benedict?

The side view of the Northern Pacific Beanery building.

As we drove out of town, we had a chance to take photos of all the poor trees lining the park. The early snowfall had broken a lot of their branches off.

The trees were still standing, but there was a lot of cleanup to do!

As we left town, we saw this interesting business. I wonder if they rent rafts shaped like rubber duckies? Actually, it looks like a whole lotta fun!

Here’s how far we came on this leg of the trip.

I was still missing my ‘ohana and wondering what they were all doing about then, but still feeling oh, so grateful that I’d gotten to spend time with them.

Where next? Stay tuned! Again, I love having you all along with us on this amazing trip!