08/02/2019

Today we got up before 6 AM to make it early to the Pearl Harbor Historic Sites. I’ve been waiting to go finally see the USS Arizona memorial and stand at the site of the start of World War II for the US.

As I drove to Pearl Harbor, I noticed that it’s rush hour traffic with people getting to the cities and that the HOV lane is on the opposite side of the median! It’s scary to watch cars look like they are going to hit oncoming traffic.

I also learned that to get to the Pearl Harbor sites, you’re supposed to drive past Ford Bridge and not onto it even though the GPS and the signs say Pearl Harbor. Well, that takes you to the actual Pearl Harbor military base, and I was promptly made to turn around and leave. So just go past the bridge and the real exit to Pearl Harbor is the next one.

First of all, no bags are allowed in the grounds so leave those in your car or you can lock them up there. If you don’t reserve your tickets in advance online for the boat time to get to the USS Arizona Memorial, you have to be at the visitor’s center when they open right at 7 AM to get free tickets, which are limited. We walked up at 7:30 and got tickets for the 7:45 time. Yaaaay!

You view a short film on how the US was bombed on that day in December and there was real footage from the time, no re-enactments. It was very moving and I heard sniffles in the audience-myself included. Not even babies or children made a sound as the video explained the history behind what we were about to see.

The boat ride is smooth, which is great if you don’t like choppy waves on a boat ride. There’s even actual Navy personnel in uniform that ride the boat with you and the ranger tour guide. Unfortunately, the Memorial is still getting the dock repaired, so you can’t disembark and see it. However, it is still a moving experience to see what is essentially a tomb of fallen soldiers.

We returned back to the visitors center after the tour and it was only around 0845 so we grabbed a muffin at the snack stop they had. There’s signs that say don’t feed the birds but they’re aggressive and leaped right on the muffin we bought and took some of it for themselves! So we let them have the muffin and walked around the grounds to read the history markers.

It’s cheapest to buy a pass to see the other memorials than pay for them individually so I did just that for us at only $112 total. The first stop was the USS Bowfin Submarine Museum directly to our right. First they take a souvenir photo of you, then you can walk on top of it and go down and look around in. When we emerged back up to the top, it was raining but I had our rain jackets so it didn’t bother us.

For the souvenir photo, they put it on a recreation of a newspaper announcing the war back in 1941. It was neat so we decided to buy it, which also gave you a free pearl to pick out of an oyster at the stand nearby. The pearl is free, but then they try to sell you outrageously priced jewelry to put the pearl in. I felt that the somewhat pushy stand cheapened the memorial exhibit, and we left.

To get to the other memorials, you have to take a bus, but it’s a large comfy one that plays music from the 1940’s while driving there. The first stop was the USS Missouri ship. No pics are allowed while on the bus since you’re on a government base. I also noted that the base housing for families is much nicer than housing we’ve lived in while stationed in different places.

On the Missouri you can stand on the Surrender deck where the treaty that was signed to end WWII was done. We did a short guided tour and you could tell our guide had so much knowledge and passion for this ship’s history. I learned that the Japanese foreign minister had a prosthetic leg and the story of how a small card table wasn’t big enough for the documents so they scrambled to get another one. As I saw tourists from Japan walk around, I marveled on how 2 countries once at war now coexist in peace and can stand on the decks of this ship to learn and remember the history.

Then you can explore the entire ship down below; it feels like you walk for miles. Cabins, kitchens, control rooms, amenities, captains meeting rooms, everything a small city would need, you’ll see it here. Take your time and explore every room, which has explanations of what their functions were. My daughter commented in the Combat Engagement Center that it looked like in Star Wars when they were planning to destroy the Death Star, and the employee stationed there said that was the best comment she’d ever heard in that room. 🙂

After that tour, it was time for the bus to the Pearl Harbor Aviation Museum, with Hanger 79 next door where the Apollo capsules were brought and Amelia Earhart’s plane once crashed. There’s old war planes and helicopters, with explanations on their functions and their artwork painted on their sides or noses. A must see if you love aircraft!

Around 1pm we returned back to the visitor’s center and it was very crowded now. We had a good parking spot in the lot since we arrived so early and we left the car there and did the 5 minute walk down the street to Restaurant 604, with harbor view seating and ordered a fish and chip plate and burger while glancing at the 24 hour surf channel that was playing on the TV.

It was time to go find a beach so we found an alternative music station and cruised through the lush green mountains, through tunnels, past Kaneohe to Kailua to go to Lanikai Beach.

Hawaii is notorious for towing vehicles! For this beach, you have to park by residences. Our Airbnb host explained to us later that all beaches in Hawaii are public, so no rear of a home has a “private access.” So just triple check the signage for tow away and no parking zones. We were lucky enough to find a spot right by a path directly to the waters.

This beach was what you expect from postcards. Clear, blue waters, mountains nearby, all kinds of people swimming and surfing, taking pictures and – eating sushi on the beach…? Hey, it’s Hawaii! And the sand at this place was perfect.

After 2 hours there, we left and stopped at the Kalapawai market and I picked up these cool stickers:

Then off to McDonald’s for a quick after-beach meal. They all say Aloha over the door!

Going back to the Airbnb, we stopped along Waimānalo Beach and watched a gorgeous sunset to end the day.

Tomorrow was going to be another adventurous day so it was time to turn in. 🙂