Honolulu Day 2 'Pearl Harbor'

For many years it has been a dream of mine to see Pearl Harbor, today, that dream came true. We started early and got some breakfast from the ABC store outside the hotel, bananas and such. We took a shuttle to Pearl Harbor and were told by the driver he would be back at 2:45 and 3:45. It was almost 10:30 so we opted for 3:45. We went to the ticket booth, a little ways from where we were dropped off and got tickets to see the USS Arizona Memorial, and the USS Missouri. Our tickets for the Arizona were for 2:00 so we headed to the Missouri and walked the whole ship. It took a little over an hour and a half to see everything. We had to pay for the Missouri but it was worth it. After that you ride the Pearl Harbor shuttle back to the Arizona Memorial where we had lunch and looked through the gift shops at both the Bowfin (a WWII sub known as the Pearl Harbor Avenger), and at the USS Arizona. After that and taking pictures around the area we watched a 25 minute movie on the history of the US and Japanese aggression leading up to the Pearl Harbor attack. We were then taken by the Navy by boat to the USS Arizona Memorial. It was very somber and moving, we took lots of pictures. It was now about time to meet up with the shuttle so we headed out and went back to the hotel. We got back around 5:15 after he had picked up and dropped off some other passengers. We relaxed, changed and headed for Duke’s, a restaurant right on the beach a little less than a half mile from the hotel. It was a good walk but we needed it to burn off the great food we had there. I had ribs and Erin got the sirloin, they were fantastic. After the walk back we were picking up breakfast for the next day when Erin realized she had left her debit card back at Duke’s. So off we went back to the restaurant. Luckily it was there and we got it back and went back to the hotel happy. There was live music at the Tiki so we sat on the balcony and listened while enjoying the scenery. The first picture is of the flag flying over the USS Arizona Memorial. The second is of the USS Missouri, the third picture is the base of the second gun battery on the USS Arizona, still sticking up above the bright blue waters of pearl harbor. 1,100 of her crew still entombed within.