I live by arguable the most popular hike on Oahu called the Lanikai Pillbox hike. This causes all sorts of disturbances for our neighborhood. For one, the path used to start at a different point essentially up someone’s driveway, but it was moved to start right off the road instead. However, AllTrails (A popular trail mapping app) had outdated data. So I emailed them a few times to get it corrected, which thankfully it finally did. But, nonetheless, people must read old blog posts on the hike and still try going up the driveway. Hawaii is terrible at trail maintenance, which is kinda crazy, so there are no signs pointing to the start. OK, there was one, but it hardly counts and is now missing. On my sunrise walks people continuously try to walk up the driveway only to get yelled at, which isn’t pleasant for anyone. Or, they’re often asking for the starting point, and there’s not really a good landmark to tell them where. I have had it in my head I’d help correct this for a while, but the pieces didn’t fall into place until recently.

When Jess and I visited the Bishop Museum, they were hosting a pop up exhibit of sorts by Parley, a company working to repurpose microplastics found on the beach. They made these plastic slabs and weren’t sure what to do with them. Well, I didn’t think of it until later, but I realized they’d make GREAT signs. So I had Jess go grab a few on her way home from work one day. I don’t think I have the before pictures…but you’ll get the point.

Jess and I then borrowed a cricut from another officer spouse and cut out lettering to stick on to the signs. We also drilled holes and bought plastic zip ties. These are our results:

It was our first go around and I am proud with how they came out. However, with version 2.0, I think we’ll work a bit more strategically on color picks. (see a trend with my sign for my husband? Graphic design has never been my strong suit). I thought the bright blue would pop better. Oh well.

This is what they look like hung up, and the remnants to the frame of what was the other sign:

I tried to remind myself that this signage was better than no signage and it’s a great first go around. Again, you can tell we probably should’ve done better color pairing… it was deceiving though!

Anyway, we went in the cover of darkness to hang them. I am sure we will not get in trouble and they are very easily removed. However, our neighborhood is just uppity enough that something like this could cause a stir. I don’t know, I’m probably being dramatic, but with all the weirdness that is Hawaii I wouldn’t be surprised if someone complained to be honest. You’d understand this better if you lived here. I’ll just say Hawaiians are very protective of their lands, as they should be!

Well, we’re a few days in and they’re still there. That’s encouraging!

I’m happy with this little community improvement project and hope it lasts.

I also invested in my own cricut after pleading with Brian for a bit. We’ll see what projects I get my hands dirty with next…