Let's go! Day 5! And I apologize in advance because this is gonna be one of the longer posts that I write!
We got up early, had our sausage, egg and cheese sandwiches and then hopped in an (expensive) Uber that took us to Pearl Harbor.
When you arrive at Pearl Harbor, you go into a little theater to get a briefing on how the visit will work. The guy who told stories works for the National Park Service (this is a national park) and told a touching story about a woman who visited recently to pay tribute to the father she never knew. The story was horrible - her mother (and therefore she) was shunned by her father's family and they wanted zero contact with her. I found that incredible, because if my son died, I would want to hold on to any shred of him that I could. His child is literally and physically a piece of him! Grief makes people react in strange ways sometimes.
Despite the sadness of Pearl Harbor, it's really a pretty area.
You only get about 10 minutes inside of the memorial, which hardly seems enough time to pay tribute. One Navy vessel drops you off while also picking up those whose 10 minutes is up.
When I was 10 years old, I visited the USS Arizona but I really don't remember any of it. I only have a few pictures from the visit, and they're all scans of negatives because no one can find the original photos. I thought maybe visiting would bring back some memories but nope. I got nothing.
The one thing I do remember about my childhood visit was our discussions about how there is still oil that is leaking from the USS Arizona. When it was sitting here in port on December 7, 1941, it had been topped off at 1.5 million gallons of oil. Despite the fact that it was bombed and sank, many fuel tanks remained intact at the time of the sinking. Did you know that the USS Arizona still leaks somewhere around 7-9 quarts of oil every day?
This photo is from 1987... the oil was leaking back then, and it still leaks today. It's estimated that about 65,000 gallons of oil have leaked into Pearl Harbor over the last 80 years. But because they think that around 500,000 gallons still remain - this could potentially be an environmental hazard for many more years.
They call the oil leaks the "Black Tears of the Arizona."
My little World War II history buff at the grave site of almost half of the 2,403 people who died on December 7, 1941.
The USS Missouri sits nearby, where on September 2, 1945, the Japanese surrendered to America, thus ending World War II (although it happened in Tokyo Bay, not here in Pearl Harbor). It feels pretty fitting, as if to say, "Hey, they may have started it, but we ended this for you!"
The USS Arizona Memorial was built over the wreckage and there is an opening where you can look down into the decks below.
The final part of the ship is known as the Shrine Room. One this marble wall, are the names of all of those who died on December 7, 1941. There are also the names of all of those who survived but chose to be interred with their shipmates - those are below, to the left and right in this picture. You can see the Tree of Life is on either side of the Shrine, which highlights the names on the wall.
The American flag flies over the Assembly Room at the USS Arizona Memorial.
To the eternal memory of our gallant shipmates in the USS Arizona who gave their lives in action December 1941. May God make His face to shine upon them and grant them peace. As of April of this year, the last living survivor of the USS Arizona, Lou Conter passed away at the age of 102.
The central assembly room with visitors and the American flag flying overhead.
And not much has changed here since 1987. Well, I'm a little taller, I guess.
The USS Missouri, or "Mighty Mo" also did two tours in the Korean War, AND even saw action in Operation Desert Storm!
I sure hope I don't fall into the oil filled water if this is the only thing that's gonna save me!
Soon, our 10 minutes was up and we walked the plank back to the Naval boat that took us across the bay.
The Navy ferries you back to the Pearl Harbor National Memorial and you can see a nice view of the Memorial along with the USS Missouri.
One of three anchors from the USS Arizona sits back on land at the Pearl Harbor Memorial. There is also one of two bell's from the ship here near the visitor's center. The other bell from the USS Arizona is actually in the bell tower at the University of Arizona.
The Lone Sailor stands alone with his bag. The base of this statue contains steel from the USS Arizona.
The last thing we saw was the Waterfront Submarine Memorial. It started to drizzle when we were there and everyone else headed for the exit but Grant and I stayed behind to read many of the memorials.
Some submarines were lost in battle, but some were lost just doing patrols. Some had many men die aboard them, and some had a full rescue of their sailors. The Pacific Fleet Submarine Museum on the USS Bowfin sits behind the memorial.
All of us enjoyed looking at the ground map of the Pacific War from 1941-1945. Map nerds!
After our visit to Pearl Harbor National Memorial, we walked over to Restaurant 604, which claims to serve Hawaii's BEST Bloody Mary. I don't know if it was the best (because I don't drink them), but it certainly was worth the price as it had about a pound of snacks in it!
I was literally obsessed with this tree at the restaurant. It's Honolulu's official street tree, the Wilhelmina Tenney Rainbow Shower Tree.
Well, our lunch view was certainly spectacular!
After lunch, we finally were able to get our Uber back to the hotel. Grant seems really thrilled!
After we got back to the hotel and cleaned up a bit, our driver Z picked us up to head up to the Experience Nutridge Luau, which sits high up in the inside of the Pu’u Ualaka’a Wayside Park, which is a state park. On the ride there, Z introduced us to the song "Aloha Friday" which might now be our favorite song.
I spotted a tsunami warning siren on our way up to the Luau. You don't see those where I live!
I also saw this, which I'm really not sure what is happening here. Some kind of shady floodplain management.
The drive up to Experience Nutridge is incredible. Look at the view of Waikiki and Diamond Head! Did we really climb that???
The only weird part about Experience Nutridge was when you arrived, they put all of you in the woods to be eaten alive by bugs for about 10 minutes before gathering you at the entrance to start the show. Those are some tall trees though!
And running around this forested area where you are waiting to enter the Luau are a bunch of crazy chickens.
Finally, we are able to go inside (the bugs were not allowed) where we got some introductions to the stars of the show. They introduced themselves as our cousins since when you are at the luau, you are Ohana (or family). It made me feel like he was Richie from the Bear with the way he kept calling us "cousin"!
Next we entered the little amphitheater area where we received the kukui nut lei.
In this quick ceremony, you place the lei around the neck of your partner (and they do the same) and then you put your foreheads together as a greeting.
We were able to see some traditional dances and a demonstration of how the imu works to cook the pork in the ground.
Awww they're kind of cute! I can't believe these two... getting leid right here in public!
But then... the rain started. And they gave us all these wildly flimsy (but still effective!) ponchos that were really difficult to open and put on. All the while, we were laughing so hard because it just kept raining!
I really wished it wasn't raining at this point, because they grow a lot of vegetables, fruits and spices up here and I wanted to take a closer look but it was too rainy to stop!
We marched through the trees to the next stop, which was where the REAL entertainment happened - haka dancing, fire spinning and even some surprise guests on stage!
The haka (which is not really a traditional Hawaiian dance but is impressive to see, nonetheless) was performed by all of the staff.
And then they needed some of the guests to help out on stage! Oh of course Natalie volunteered!
And then... there was FIRE SPINNING!
And MORE fire spinning!
And EVEN MORE fire spinning!
And more rain but at least I got a kiss for it.
Not sure if he was working on his haka skills here?
And then, the rain ended (temporarily) and we could see Honolulu and the airport in the distance.
The Experience Nutridge Luau WAS an experience! Natalie got a temporary tattoo, as well as a bracelet made of banana leaves.
There were also several games out on the lawn that you could play, including this one which was kind of like bowling through the uprights. They also had some spear throwing, but I didn't get any pictures of myself, Todd, Grant or Kern doing that, perhaps for the best.
They also taught a short Hula dance class! Natalie and Dorothy participated, naturally.
But ... so did Grant and Todd! That kid on the right is giving me some serious side eye.
I mean, HOW beautiful was this view!?!
Finally, it was time for some dinner - YUM! The pork was out of this world!
Everyone had a great meal - especially Kern!
I literally made Todd take this picture of me eating pineapple in Hawaii. I never loved pineapple until I was pregnant with Natalie. When I was about 30 weeks pregnant with her, we came to Hawaii but I had gestational diabetes so I couldn't have any pineapple. Talk about torture! I need to make up for all that I missed on that trip!
After dinner, there's more dancing.
I snapped this one when no one was looking - they were busy watching the show.
It was really such a beautiful evening!
This was the funniest part though. This is what I get for having a front row seat!
He spotted me with my camera!
Peace out!
I think I want to come back in my next life as her - she was so beautiful!
Probably the best thing about the Experience Nutridge luau is that you get picked up and dropped off at your hotel, which means you can really enjoy the libations! Clearly two of these guys did just that! Such clowns! This was really an awesome day!
Next up, Day 6!
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