Ogii throwing milk during the full moon.
Some funky shoes at the thrift shop.
These seem nice.
I've bought four pairs of dress shoes at thrift stores. The new blue ones fit my feet and the Hawaii vibe the best.
A local optometry office, Out to See in Kailua, takes iris photos.
They only do them W-F, either morning, afternoon, or evening, and they are $110 a piece.
Some of the editing they to.
We had been wondering when the outside window washer would come. There he is.
Getting ready for Halloween.
Driving east to Kailua and passing the Honpa Hongwanji Hawaii Betsuin Buddhist temple.
Some big houses up on the hill.
A rainbow over the road.
We ate dinner at Easy Que.
They cook everything fresh every day, so they might run out.
Menu.
Back.
Three sauces.
Some chickens wandering by.
Ready to eat.
Brisket, chicken, tots, beans, and cornbread.
Mudd pie for dessert.
A sign in their bathroom.
Sculpture nearby.
Lanikai monument.
The Lanikai Pillbox hike is very popular, but they warn online there's very little parking nearby; some people park a mile away at the beach lot. We got lucky and there was some space on the nearest side street. We're here a bit before 5pm on a Thursday, though, so other days and times are much busier.
People coming back from the hike.
It's probably a little annoying having tons of people walking by your house every day. It's also a business opportunity; you could put out a cooler with drink and snacks and have people pay on the honor system (we saw that by some hikes in Los Angeles). But if you can afford this house, that amount of income is meaningless to you.
All windows.
The Mid-Pacific Country Club is near the hike entrance. You can't park anywhere on this street or in their lot.
The golf course.
The hike entrance is on the other side of the street.
Another homeowner who doesn't want hiker parking in their driveway.
A sign warning it's not an easy hike.
Ogii ready to go anyway.
This root sticking up to trip you is the first indication of that.
As is this very steep section...
... with a rope to help you up and down.
Houses on the hill across the road.
A little bird.
First spot with a nice view of the ocean.
To the east are the Moku Nui and Moku Iki islands. They are both bird sanctuaries, and while you can kayak onto the beaches of Moku Nui, the interior is off-limits, as is the entire island of Moku Iki. Moku means island, nui means big, and iki means small.
Headed up again.
A little steeper, slipperier spot.
A few other hikers, along with the first view of a pillbox.
A steeper section with rock steps.
Looking back north. The first very flat island is Popoia Island. Like Moku Nui, you can kayak onto the beaches but not go farther inland, as it's blocked off for the seabird sanctuary. Behind that to the right is Ulupa'u Crater with the small Moku Manu bird sanctuary island to the right. For the island names, manu means bird, and popoia means fish rot because it was originally a fishing heiau, or a temple where fisherman would bring their fishing tribute as an offering to the gods.
Some areas had a couple of different paths you could take.
The grass is very wind-swept ocean side.
Almost there.
The beach below.
A house with a nice pool.
It's still quite hot and humid, so I'm starting to sweat, even though the hike isn't too strenuous.
Ogii is doing fine, though.
Another rocky area where we can go left or right.
This part you actually needed to climb just a bit.
Ogii at the top of this section.
Me at the bottom.
A skinnier path.
Almost there.
The first pillbox. It took us around 30 minutes to get here at a moderate pace.
People like to sit on top.
The view.
If you keep going on the trail...
... you see the second pillbox.
A better view of Popoia (flat) Island.
Halfway between the two pillboxes.
Looking west to the mountains in the middle of the island.
Looking east to the ocean.
Some sections have very steep drop-offs; you don't want to fall here.
More people arriving at the first pillbox.
Ogii almost to the second.
And we have arrived. The picture of the Hawaiian woman is much nicer than all of the random graffiti.
The path actually continues onward.
We started at the Lanikai Pillbox Trail and hiked south to the Lanikai Pillbox.
If you keep going on the trail, you end up at the Lanikai Pillbox Trailhead (Back Way).
But it's not nearly as good. It's a harder hike, and you don't have the ocean views.
Inside the pillbox.
Many wrote about people.
Ogii peeking in the other way.
Me coming up the ladder.
People on top.
From the front.
Us.
You can just make out Makapu'u Lighthouse far to the south.
Those are interesting houses.
Googling a bit: 1111 Koohoo Pl is a 1 bed, 1 bath octagon home. It rents for $4,500 and is worth around $3.5 million. I'd assume the other two octagon homes are similar, although I couldn't find listings for them.
It has great views of the ocean.
There wasn't much of a sunset as the clouds covered the mountains, but we did see the full moon rise.
Ogii with it.
Us.
The moon, islands, beach, and houses.
Time to head back home. We brought headlamps.
Many other hikers used their phone flashlights.
Which made it difficult when you had to hand your small children down to the other parent at the steep locations.
Moon, island, and palm trees.
A flower that's just about to open.
Ogii going down another steep, slippery section. There are many loose pebbles on the trail, so it's safer to put your feet on the edges.
This branch has been grabbed by so many hikers that it's been rubbed shiny.
The Kailua Town Center shopping center.
Vendors packing up from the just-finished Kailua Farmer's Market there on Thursdays at 4pm-7pm.
They have some restaurants.
And Out to See Optometry (which is a great name for an optometry office in Hawaii).
Where we were going for iris photography.
Brian Daniel is retired from being an NYPD detective and now does photography and videography, while his wife, Lauren Mordue, is the optometrist here. You want a lot of light for iris photos. He has a large one to one side farther away...
... and a small one on a flexible arm to the other side.
My turn.
My eye. I had to hold my lid up as they tend to sit lower.
My view.
Yota in the parking lot.
My turn to throw milk for the full moon.
Bull's apartment on Night Court has cutouts above the doors because he's so tall.
This one looks like he just broke it open.
Friday night fireworks.
Ogii made breakfast.
Kayak competition in the canal.
Lots of spider webs for Halloween.
A row of surfboards.
With some decorations on the house.
Mural of people.
We went to the KCC Farmer's market again.
Ogii found some fruit.
Always good to have cash and cards, but now a lot of people take other phone payments, like Venmo.
Her apron has a large corn cob printed on it.
More fruit.
Ogii grabbing some.
Alfredo's Italian is here today. Let's grab that for lunch.
Live music.
More fruit.
Brazilian style cheese bread. That's one of my favorite parts of Brazilian steakhouses.
They have a lot of generators and gas.
A chicken.
A dog very closely watching the chicken.
Boba.
Let's grab one of those.
Along with some of Keith's Cookies.
Chocolate chip macademia nut is their most popular.
Lunch time.
Hmm, cut this fruit open; now how do we eat it?
Google to the rescue.
Well, actually, YouTube.
Hawaii mails out ballots to all registered voters. It's crazy not all states do this; it's so much easier.
People.
And issues.
This one seems very poorly worded; it's difficult to understand.
Seems like many other people also found it confusing, and some even voted the opposite of what they wanted because of it. Thankfully there were some explanations online.
Civil Beat had short Q&A interviews with most of the candidates.
The Hawaii Optometric Political Action Committee had emailed a candidate support list. Interesting that every single candidate they support is a democrat.
Vanquish license plate.
I'm at Safetway at 5:30am. You'd think the donuts would be delivered and set out by then, but it appears not.
A Christmas tree and a ghost soda box displays.
Our finished iris pictures after Brian edited them.