Author Archives: marvinwoo

We’re not in a huge rush. Our flight leaves at 4 pm so our target arrival time to the airport is 2 pm. We figure we can’t really fit anything major in today and on top of that we all saw and did what we had wanted to up to that point anyway. Our bagsContinue reading “Goodbye Yellowstone, time to return to Hawaii.”

Every trip I’ve been on starts out with that euphoric feeling of unlimited possibilities-limitless things to do and see. Every trip also has a tipping point where that mood changes. For us it might be around 3/4 of the way through when I begin to realize that I’ll have to head home soon. What haven’tContinue reading “Day #8-Ok, times running out. What haven’t we seen so far? Bear and wolf.”

Lamar is the other main area in Yellowstone known for animal watching. When I hear the name Lamar, I think of the character from the movie “Nerds.” We loaded up with lunch and dinner this time at Firehole BBQ and Ernie’s sandwiches (again) so we could stay however late we wanted to without having toContinue reading “Day #7-Norris and Lamar”

So it’s a good thing today was kind of an open day. Got laundry done. The main thing we wanted to do was to locally mail off the Covid tests that we purchased and brought from Hawaii at the UPS drop point for next-day air to meet our Covid test requirement to get back home.Continue reading “Day #6-Or whatever day it is. Bozeman, North entrance & Mammoth Springs”

Ok we’re at the point in the trip where days of the week and days of the month are hard to keep track of. Signs of a good vacation. Before heading out, we stopped at 2 different supermarkets in search of varied fare. We did upgrade our mobile rig with a $4 styrofoam cooler, whichContinue reading “Day #5-The “Grand Canyon” of Yellowstone”

Hitting the road bright and early at 11am! It’s good to be on a loose schedule. We started off by grabbing sandwiches in town from here: Saw some elk closer up than before. Note National Geographic-style photography. This mom and child (not in pic) ended up crossing the road shortly after. Here we are atContinue reading “Day #4-Our first full day in Yellowstone, Montana: Grand Prismatic, Fairy Falls, and the Upper Geyser Basin”

Today was a perfect reminder that life is about the journey, not the destination. We packed up our meager belongings and hit the road going through the Tetons to get to Yellowstone. On a whim we stopped off at a fish hatchery right out of town and got to do a little learning, fishing (andContinue reading “Day #3-Moving house from Jackson to West Yellowstone (or how to turn a 2.5 hour trip into a 9 hour trip)”

June booked us a tour with the Lewis and Clark Whitewater rafting company to explore Snake River on a raft. So to prep, we donned our standard Hawaii beach gear (trunks and rash guards) and grabbed food-a Reuben and an Italian sandwich from Creekside deli before our meet up at 10:15 a.m. The tour runsContinue reading “Day #2-Whitewater Rafting, Jackson town stuff and the Grand Teton park”

Almost adjacent to Yellowstone lay the Grand Tetons to the south. Our first destination. Before entering the park (while the kids were still asleep on Hawaii time), I 1) cockaroached food from the included breakfast at our stay at the inn and 2) made a run to the local deli for additional food and suppliesContinue reading “DAY #1-Our first real day. The Grand Tetons and Jenny Lake”

Being based in the middle of the Pacific, the reason we as a family unit have been visiting foreign countries more than than we have the states is because of what I think of as the cost to destination ratio. The more interesting and unique the place, the culture and the physical environment are, theContinue reading “The Great Outdoors, you say?”