Volcanoes National Park - Chain of Craters Road

I have been trying to write this post for weeks but I've been experiencing a severe case of writer's block. Every time I sat down to write, my mind would go blank. It's been frustrating because I really would like to cross this of my to-do list. I mentioned my dilemma to a friend the other day and she said "You know, a picture is worth a thousand words. Just post the pictures." That's probably not exactly what she said word for word but it was pretty close. This friend is very wise. I go to her for advice a lot. In the years since I have known her, she has never steered me wrong. So, on the advice of my wise friend, here is my first installment of pictures of our trip to Hawaii Volcanoes National Park. Included in this post are pictures of lava fields, the famous Holei sea arch, and petroglyphs.

The view flying into Kona. You can already see the lava rocks.

It was crazy windy on the open lava fields

The Ocean is calling and I must go

We've lived in Southern California for about 18 months but had yet to go to Los Angeles. After our visit to Solvang, we decided to drive down the Pacific Coast Highway (PCH) to the land of the stars. If you haven't driven the PCH, put it on your bucket list and start planning a trip. We only drove a small portion of the highway, but the drive was incredible. The internet recommends driving the highway north to south so you can be on the same side as the ocean. I echo this recommendation. Although there are pull outs and view points along the way, we decided not to stop at any of them. These pictures were taken from the car. 

We made our way to Zuma Beach in Malibu (the TV show "Baywatch" often filmed at this beach). Despite living in California, we have been to the beach only a couple times since moving here--partly because the nearest beach is over 2.5 hours away from us and partly because of COVID (Thanks 2020). I grew up on the prairies with the Rocky Mountains pretty much in my backyard and while I love the prairies and the mountains, I have a deep love for the beach. If I had to choose between the three, I would be hard pressed to pick a favourite. I absolutely love sinking my toes in the sand and hearing the waves roar.

After our stop at Zuma Beach, we continued down the PCH to Malibu Pier. The beaches and the pier were pretty deserted. I imagine during non-COVID times, these places are usually packed. It was nice to kind of have the places to ourselves, but it was sad that we weren't able to spend more time at them. I can't wait to go back and actually enjoy the beach and pier experience. 

Solvang, California

When we found out we were moving to California we started researching all the places we wanted to visit. As soon as I came across Solvang I just knew we had to visit. A Danish town in the middle of California? Yes please! Solvang is absolutely beautiful. It is surrounded by mountains and rolling hills, which adds to its charm. I've never been to Europe but I imagine that it looks a lot like Solvang. We really enjoyed exploring the town and the Santa Ines Mission. 

If you go: 
We stayed at Hadsten House in Solvang. Nice, clean room with an electric fireplace. The location was within walking distance to downtown Solvang. We would stay here again. 

Gluten Free Find:

There are a number of bakeries in Solvang. The entire town smells like baked goods, which was pretty much torture for me given my celiac. At least one bakery had GF macaroons, but they shared a display case with gluten-containing food and I wasn't willing to risk that much cross contamination. Despite the lack of gf bakery items, I was able to eat delicious food at some of the restaurants. Brekkies has a gluten free waffle that made me want to marry the chef so I could have waffles like that every day. And the chicken sandwich I had from Fitzpatrick's Tavern was one of the best I've had. They offer gluten free buns (and don't charge extra for them!!) and use a separate fryer for their fries.