Day #4 - Hawaii Five-O

Yellowstone Manor
So here's a huge test of my memory! I've waited a little long to post this, but I'll try to remember the details of this day:
I'm not sure what everyone else did, but Mom, Jennifer, Zack and I went to Pearl Harbor to see the USS Arizona Memorial. We left pretty early in the day to make sure we got tickets. The tickets are free, but they are limited, first come, first serve, and the lines get really long. When Becky and I lived in Hawaii in 1977 (when I was 20!), we never made the effort to see PH, even though we knew we'd hear about it from M&D. Back then, we didn't really have access to a vehicle or gas $$. Yes, we could have taken the bus, but, hey, we were young! Anyway, back to present day, I didn't really know how to get there, but I had seen signs, and figured I'm pretty good at directions. Driving back towards Honolulu was an opportunity to see some pretty amazing scenery. Being from Arizona, I'm just not used to seeing sooooo much green! Have I mentioned the humidity? It's wonderful for your skin, from your ear lobes down to your toes! Just before going through the mountain to Hono, you take a curve to the right to head to PH. Again, more beautiful vistas. Confession? Once you get down towards Pearl City, it pretty much looks like any other old town, with some industrial areas, older homes, etc. But hey, we were in Hawaii! We saw this huge football stadium - don't really see the reason for that! Except I think they use the parking lot for a Flea Market. We wandered through the military base, following signs for the Arizona Memorial. Pearl Harbor is, of course, the entire area. What we wanted to see is the more familiar memorial for the USS Arizona. The line was long, but we hit it at the right time, because we moved pretty quickly as the line got even longer. Our tickets were for 12:20? or so. This meant that we had a couple of hours to wait. We wandered over to the Canteen (eating area). We had time to see the submarine Bowfin, but opted out of that. Can you say claustrophobia? Zack had pizza and Mom and I had a burger. Weather was really nice. Sunny, but enought breeze to make it very comfortable. After eating, we went back to the Visitor Center and looked around through the book store and a little museum. Mom and I watched a little of a PH documentary. I think I actually learned something. Amazing! For the last little bit of our wait we went closer to the water and watched people and looked across the bay at the other ships. It was hard to imagine that a place so beautiful had been the scene of so much destruction and sorrow. Our group was finally called and we went in to see the movie, which I think we would have slept through except for the sound of the explosions recorded from the actual attack. I was impressed with the request from the Park Ranger that we each remember that this is a memorial and please keep the talking and visiting to a minimum. It is the final resting place for many. We loaded on to the ferry for the ride over. The memorial itself is perpendicular (?) to the actual ship, built over the top of it. Zack has photos on his blog. As weird as it may sound, I loved seeing the drops of oil rising to the surface. I've read somewhere that they call those drops "Tears of the Arizona". Appropriate. The crowds were very respectful. I have to say that I was very aware of the history of that spot. But the impact of seeing the names on the wall was not as great as I had anticipated. Perhaps a sad commentary on our generation, having seen the Vietnam Wall, lists of the World Trade Center victims, and other memorials/reminders of the insanity that exist in this world. We remember, but I think we are still doomed to re-live it, in one way or another.

Anyway, on the way home, we stopped at a grocery store to buy some essentials: 2 pies, Chee-tohs, sweet bread, and I'm sure there was some soda pop involved. This, of course, was to make sure we didn't starve to death on the drive up the coast to our home. That evening was a blur - don't remember. But I'm pretty sure we went to another grocery store to make sure we had essentials for the next day - Sunday. I think we played Scrabble. I won, or at least, "they" let me win.

Tomorrow? Day 5 - church, Waimea, shrimp shack. Have I said lately that we had a wonderful trip?