You stay be affluent so says Business Insider. This is from data taken between 2008 and 2012 for an area with more than 1000 residents. During this time, Maunawili residents had a median household income of $137,143, reportedly the highest in Hawaii.
The popular Lanikai Juice in Kailua is currently undergoing renovation. During this time while the storefront is technically closed, ingenuity has kept them open for business.
They rolled up their truck so that they’re still can serve their customers. Now that’s akamai!
Whoops, sorry. I forgot to post these pics inside of the new Peet’s in Kailua. Last time, I only posted pics of the outside of Peet’s. This time I actually went inside to buy a drink.
The inside is small with only a few seats and a table or two. And a very industrial-looking stainless steel table it is. The outside swivel seats are kinda interesting since they’re so huge. I don’t get it. Are you supposed to lounge in them? Seat two in a chair? Surprisingly, they are pretty comfy.
One point of improvement is the efficiency of the drink preparation. While the group in front of me took some time to finish up their transaction with the cashier, the barista could have started on my drink. So my raspberry mocha could have been ready immediately after payment, but nope, the barista stood idle. Live and learn I say. Not enough to deter my future visits.
On Saturday, July 26, 2014, Windward Mall hosted the Discover Windward event. This gathering featured neighborhood vendors, live music, and food truck fare and was kicked off with a social media-based scavenger hunt. Thirty of us canvased the mall looking for, tagging, and posting these depictions:
Here are some of my (non-winning) submissions. In fact, since I stayed at the mall after the official scavenger hunt, I almost had another set of #DiscoverWindward submissions.
Although I didn’t win any individual prizes, every participant received a goodie bag and was treated to an overall fun night out. Congratulations to the Ozawa family for taking the top prize with this awesome (and akamai) collage. As soon as I saw that entry in my #DiscoverWindward Twitter stream, I thought to myself, “great idea.”
If you want to discover Windward, be sure to follow Windward Mall online.
Seemingly a great location in Kailua, it was not. The Executive Chef that opened on Kailua Road in late 2011 is now closed. I’m not certain when they closed but driving by, you’ll see emptied spaces.
After reading this Exploration Hawaii post about 5 Great Kid Friendly Trails on Oahu, our family decided to hike the Lanikai Pillboxes of Kaiwa Ridge. Though we’ve been Windward residents for years, we never hiked the Pillboxes with our young kids, instead sticking to the paved ways of Diamond Head and Makapuu Lighthouse.
Parking is tight since you’re in the cramped Lanikai area. There are a few parking stalls nearby the trail entrance, and we lucked out with a spot as hikers continually come and go. The trail entrance is nondescript, just looking like an opening between fences. Going up the Pillbox entryway is what you can expect from the rest of the hike. No paved walkways, no handrails, just dirt, rocks, and trees. Kids have a little bit of difficulty making it up, but it is very doable. Once you make it up to the landing, you’re greeted with an open view of Lanikai and the Mokulua Islands.
After admiring your first visual vista, it’s time to go up. There’s no real main path, just a general direction that all the hikers take. Some parts are wide enough for groups to pass. Other places are narrow with one lane of traffic in each direction.
On the way to the first pillbox, you have two great views. On one side, you see the Mid Pacific Country Club and on the other, Lanikai, its beaches, and the blues of the Pacific Ocean.
A word of caution. It can rain on your hike and with the wear and tear of the trail, it’ll get slick and easy to lose your footing. There was a passing drizzle on our morning hike that brought some heat relief and of course, a rainbow.
At the first pillbox, the Mokulua Islands are in clear view as well as the neighborhood of Lanikai.
The path to the second pillbox seemed more craggy and closer to ridge lines. While general caution will keep you safe, you can definitely injure yourself if you don’t respect the terrain and cooperate with fellow hikers.
From the second pillbox, you can see the entire stretch of Bellows in Waimanalo.
Sitting atop the pillbox is a great place to snack, rest, and reflect.
And of course, the panorama of the Windward coastline is just awesome.
While there are more pillboxes, the general public turns around at the second one since hiking to the others is more challenging. All in all, the hike with kids and stops along the way took under 90 minutes. After this workout, don’t forget to head to the nearby Island Snow shop for a cool, refreshing snack.
Then share your Lanikai Pillbox hike experience online with Dwellable’s #GetYourGlassOutside contest.
The Mokulua Islands while hiking Lanikai Pillboxes @Dwellable #GetYourGlassOutside pic.twitter.com/PIJbcPo0wl
— Gee Why (@geewhy) July 10, 2014
Please retweet the above tweet to help my contest entry. For a few more pictures, check out my Flickr album.
Peets Coffee in Kailua is now open for business. Announced in September 2013 but not pau in January 2014, I was fearful the Peet’s entry to the Windward side petered out. But when I passed by this Fourth of July weekend, the store was finally open (and supposedly has been open for a few weeks).
I had already gotten a coffee so I didn’t buy anything this time, but at least I know there’s yet another option for caffeine in the 96734. There are a few seats inside but the push is for the plentiful outdoor seating.
As the remodeling of the Safeway in Kailua makes progress, a recent addition was this new endcap display. It’s all for Starbucks.
According to HECO, a major section of Kaneohe was without power this morning mainly affecting commercial businesses like Starbucks. The 24-hour drive-thru rendered worthless, the early-opening-but-can’t-access Starbucks inside Windward Mall unavailable. Still though, the green aprons of the mermaid showed up to work, just to apologize to caffeine-addicts.
Maybe the Windward City location had power and could serve up coffee or a Dirty Oprah.
Image from KITV news.
One scant week ago, I noticed the main Safeway in Kailua was getting remodeled. A few days later, there’s been some progress but more prep work done. Older shelving is being cleared for removal and some newer shelving are starting to show up.
More of the new flooring is installed.
There are more temporary, popup displays.
There’s odd placement of stuff like the poke bar and greeting cards.
Greeting cards, cheese puffs, and the bakery goods.
And candy themed after The Hunger Games: Catching Fire?!?
This is purely speculation based on appearances only, but the new Peet’s location in Kailua seems to have petered out. Previously, there had been a banner announcing the coming of Peet’s. That banner is now gone (although hopefully temporarily). The store is still not in business, but there is a piece of paper posted on the door (couldn’t see the sign from the street).
One day, I have to peek in the window to see what’s up. Online, Peet’s job listings don’t show Hawaii (at all) so that’s not telling, and the locator listing doesn’t show any in Hawaii even though Peet’s is in Waikiki. I’m hoping Peet’s is still coming to Kailua.
Open this week is Z’s Bakery & Deli in the former Great Harvest Bakery location in Enchanted Lakes. When I visited, the bakery stuff was there, didn’t see any deli goods, but in their first week of business, things were still settling down. For now, cash only.
Z’s has some fancy packaging for their baked goods, a little too fancy though. I’m thinking these won’t last long, replaced by something cheaper.
The baked goods looked kinda pale, needing some color. The apple muffin was really good with apple strewn inside the middle. The scone was okay. I thought the cream cheese-infused scones of Great Harvest was tastier. They had a few more items to pick from, but I’d go with the apple muffin.
