Hawaii: Random Stops

This is my 3rd time to Hawaii, but it never ceases to amaze me how beautiful it is here at every turn. You’re surrounded by beautiful sites whether it’s the mountains, ocean, waterfalls or even volcanoes. Even when you’re not expecting to see something you find yourself surprised. In my last post I showed my outfit of the day when I went to Kailua-Kona. On that same day, we decided to drive a little further south along the coast just to explore. After a few miles we started to see signs for Kealakekua Bay and decided to follow them. It was a few miles of very twisty, curvy roads down to the bay. Not really knowing what to expect, I was pleasantly surprised by the view and the crashing waves. Unfortunately, I couldn’t look around too much here because it is a state park and was closed due to the storm the night before. But, I was still able to get a look at the bay and take some pictures.  In my attempt to get some good pictures of the waves I got splashed when it hit the wall harder than I was expecting!

After making our way back up the same twisty, curvy roads, we saw signs for The Painted Church. My aunt and uncle who are traveling with us had been there before and said it was a gorgeous site. Again, it was just my luck that we weren’t allowed inside due to renovations! But the outside, aside from the tarp, looked pretty and sits high on top overlooking the bay.

On the way back to the hotel we saw quite a few cars parked along the side of the highway. We decided to stop too and see what everyone was looking at. It was a lava tube!

I didn’t climb down because I was wearing flip flops. First of all, I didn’t think it would be a good idea in sandals, but then I saw a guy climbing back up and his leg was bleeding so I was definitely like “Nope. Not happening”! But the rocks going upwards seemed pretty stable and flat so I knew I could manage that in flip flops so I climbed up a couple feet. Surprise! It was a lava field!

I didn’t go too far out, again because of my flip flops, I didn’t want to risk going too far and then having trouble getting back. When I first came to Hawaii, 10 years ago, I went to the Volcano National Park and I remember it being an awesome experience. Maybe the next time I come back I’ll go again because I’m sure some things will have changed and it would be cool to experience again so many years later.

This day just reminded me how beautiful Hawaii is everywhere you look, even when you’re not expecting it. To end this post, I want to leave you with, what I think, is going to end up being the most gorgeous picture I will have taken this entire vacation.

I’ve never seen a prettier rainbow in real life! So happy to have caught this while on the road and was able to pull over and capture this beauty.