Last night we invited a couple friends over for BYOBC (bring your own beach chair) and BYOB. Brian has wanted to sit at the beach at night relaxing and chatting for a bit, so we finally decided to do it. Here’s my hand at taking some low light photos. I kicked myself for not bringing my tripod, so these are all hand held with slow shutter speed using any apparatus to steady the camera. The first is the sun setting, looking toward the Marine Corps Base.
This is of some fishermen (and fisherwoman?) setting up lines with the dark outline of one of the Mokes in the background.
Then, I tried to capture stars and palm trees. A tripod would’ve done a world of good, but it’s a start.
The streak to the left is a plane.
The meteor shower is supposed to be strong the next few days and I might try to go out, but we’ll see.
To mark off another bucket list item we went to Buzz’s steakhouse, which is a quick 18 minute walk from our condo and (arguably) has an ocean view. We were too early for their dinner menu, but the small plates menu was satisfactory, and also nothing to write home about (but I guess still bloggable). The cocktails, on the other hand, were amazing. Brian and I started with Mai Tais. He had their original, which was essentially rum. I had the original with added pineapple juice to knock it down a bit.
I moved on to the coconut mojito (without mint. I know, defeats the essence of a mojito, but I don’t like mint in things). Brian had a beer.
I would 10/10 go again on a leisurely night with not much else to do, but I wouldn’t put it in my top restaurants to eat at. I do appreciate the laid back, beachy deco flare.
I almost forgot their other redeeming quality which was their key lime pie. It was amazing. Here are some pictures from the walk back.
Path through Kailua Beach ParkSun setting over Kailua BeachI got the feeling someone was watching us…Sign welcoming you to the neighborhood with an elderly lady enjoying the tradewinds, as she told us when we walked bySurf boards are commonly used as mailbox stands
We live next to one of the most popular hikes in Oahu. In fact, we commonly encounter droves of people walking up our road to climb it. Imagine the sunrise view I get except ~1200 ft higher.
We haven’t gone on that hike… until today. I’ve still been having various health issues, but there’s a special occasion that pushed me to get this hike done (more on that in a later post).
The hike honestly wasn’t terrible. It has been really dry, so the biggest challenge is to not slip on loose soil.
There’s definitely some scrambling and it can get steep; but you have to slow down to scramble so you don’t really feel overly cardiovascularly challenged (except my poor lungs). I was more afraid about having to go back down and slipping. They do have ropes available at some (not all) dicey spots.
We of course couldn’t find our head lamps this morning *face palm* but managed to use our iPhones until enough first light was available. I am always practicing “composition”, and one really important component is leading lines. Leading lines are, if not already obvious, leading lines that direct your eye deeper into the photograph so it adds depth. I was trying to experiment with leading lines and the path. I did ok, but not like, WOW.
Looking toward Marine Corps Base.
Here’s a photo dump.
Our condo is one of these.
“Three peaks” on the left (another popular hike) and enchanted lakes neighborhood in front. The wind was doing something to my hair!
Overall, will I do it on my own, I think probably no. Would I do it if friends were out here or groups were doing it? Probably yes.
I got pretty nervous because it started to sprinkle and get really windy, and I let fear win and didn’t get up on the actual pillbox and started to go back down and sat on a ledge for a bit. I didn’t even grab a picture of it… Brian got on it. I am a little disappointed in myself, but the next time we do it I’ll have a little more confidence and hopefully get on it. It’s right on the edge of the cliff… so don’t judge.
Those are our condos in the background of this next photo. I actually think the first scramble isn’t that bad, and when I got at the top of that I almost chickened out, but I couldn’t do that to Brian today. Maybe I’ll just get there and take pictures to mix up my beach sunrise walks. I think for now my doggo greets, sea glass hunts, and low pressure morning walk is perfect.
I read a blog once that said if you are spending time in Kailua on a Thursday, skip any restaurant and go to the Kailua Farmer’s Market. I am here to confirm this is 100% the best recommendation.
It’s half in a parking lot, half in a parking garage and has a significant number of food/goods vendors. The lines were long but moved quickly.
I had to commit to something… so I picked a Portuguese cheese bread and three empanadas from these two vendors and a couple brownies from another. The empanadas were OUT OF THIS WORLD. I am not sure how I’m not going to get those every time.
My friend got Falafel from the middle eastern place, which I sampled and also thought was delicious.
The biggest and most disappointing part of this is there isn’t really any public seating… so next time I think I’d bring my lawn chairs and set up camp in the parking lot and enjoy the music and eat.
Instead, we took it back to my friend’s apartment, which is a short walk, and ate it on her Lanai.
But I can’t enjoy the ice cream for dessert that way! This is a Thursday must go for me now. I’m still dreaming of the empanadas.
We had an easy day today due to my late night conference working. We moseyed on to Brunch around 9:30am and tried Easy ‘Que. We’ve been here for dinner and it was really good.
I had corn cakes with egg and pork with lilikoi iced tea and Brian had a burrito. Both were delicious and we’d definitely come back here. I had to try all the sauces even though I knew the molasses would be my favorite.
Brian was pleasantly surprised how good having BBQ for brunch was; it wasn’t overly BBQ-y.
I’ve mentioned there are Hei Hei’s all over Hawaii. These chickies have discovered delicious crumbs await inside the restaurant, but he better watch out.
They have a bruleed banana pudding waffle that we’ll have to return to try.
I am on a medicine that recommends limiting sun exposure (thanks UTI). We decided it might be a great afternoon to do something indoors. I joined the Pearl Harbor Aviation Museum as a member after my friend told us it’s a really great museum. We could probably get in for free, but the member rate was great and we get tickets to share with family or friends. I think that museums could use a lot of help right now.
The museum is inside one of the original hangars that existed during the attack on Pearl Harbor. You can see bullet holes in the sides. It’s on what is called Ford Island which is only accessible with a DOD ID unless you take the shuttle from the Pearl Harbor visitor center.
I enjoyed learning more about the attack by reading the panels, but it was sometimes hard to fully understand things (I get that they can only cover so much). So I look forward to going back for a guided tour at some point. I really liked the plaques that talk about the planes story. Some of them were sold off to be re-used and made their way back to the museum. Others, like this, weren’t original but were repainted to be close. The museum person told me that they painted the propellers black to “hide” more. They do the same to submarines. 😉
It’s obviously closely related to the battleships getting hit as well, so to the right you see a piece of the Arizona. In the back is a Japanese war plane.
Here are some other planes; you’ll have to visit to hear the story behind all of them!
I’m not really sure the point of the motorcycle; we didn’t spend the whole time here and decided we didn’t have to do it all in one day, but nonetheless it was a cool picture.
The whole attack lasted two hours; I can’t imagine that. There were fun stories about Japanese getting stranded on a remote island and a couple about submarines. Overall lots of sad and heroic stories to read about.
On the outside is the old radio tower. Apparently they are working on opening this up for tours soon too! Brian wanted me to take a picture of it because it’s what he calls a “Nav Aid” (navigation). Essentially, he uses this as a visual aid to steer the submarine into port (no, submarines aren’t self driving yet).
It used to also house the fire station, so yes here’s a close up of the old truck.
Looking forward to going back for a guided tour and to check out more. There is a whole additional hangar with more planes we didn’t get to. We’ve both been feeling worn out so wanted to make a quick excursion.
I signed up to take golf lessons at Klipper Golf Course, the golf course on Marine Corps Base which is supposed to have the best views. I’ve only had two lessons so far and we’ve used the putting green both times which is kinda away from the ocean. The KOSC (Kbay officer spouse club) set them up and there are five of us taking them.
We were learning how to chip today, on day 1 we learned how to putt.
He told us to focus much more on our swing than where the ball was going, which makes sense. My goal is to know enough that if I were ever invited to do a tournament, play with friends, or when my parents come out here I could at least hold my own and have an idea of what I’m doing. Jon’s a great teacher! There’s a lot to the game.
I’m glad I committed to taking this, it’s been a fun Saturday morning excursion that I think will prove valuable. I don’t imagine spending a ton of money on this, it seems we’ve been spending a lot of money on hobbies as of late, but who knows. I am wearing Brian’s MIT polo because I don’t have any collared shirts. I am going to buy one just to have.
