Pearl Harbor

Today began with a tour of downtown Honolulu, which included a fair amount of history, on a Duck. Now, I don't have a picture of the Duck, primarily because all the pics you'll see on tonight's blog post come from Katy's phone. I wasn't always thinking in time to get the pics I should have. Of course, this is all because my phone, which purportedly is capable of standing water to depths of 30-50 feet, lied to me. Oh I've used it underwater before, but my dip in the ocean yesterday morning apparently made it decide to let some in and make my camera all cloudy. You may have noticed it with the pics yesterday. Aiee. Anyway, off to the Apple Store when we return home, but I digress.

The Duck is, as many of you will know, an amphibious vehicle, so we did most of the tour through the streets, then drove right into the marina and out into the ocean. That's kind of an odd experience but it was certainly interesting, and our tour guide, Roland, had all sorts of fun nuggets to share, things he was interested in, stories of how he bought his 2-bedroom, 1200 square foot apartment 30 years ago in Honolulu for $197k... Yikes!  :) Well, at least that wasn't a surprise as we have seen plenty of episodes of House Hunters.

After the Duck tour we headed for Pearl Harbor, specifically to see the USS Arizona Memorial. There are other things out there we would have liked to have seen, but the way the tour was set up, there wasn't time to view any of those. I was a little shocked, having been to other U.S. Parks-controlled places like this (thinking Mt. Rushmore for one), that it didn't offer more food as an option, and that caught us a little off guard since we arrived at lunchtime.  If I get to do it again, we'll at least know to plan meals accordingly.  :)

Before they take you on a boat out to the memorial, you see a short movie complete with actual footage of the USS Arizona blowing up, taking its initial hit. That was, in a word, sobering. To add another, it was fascinating to see so much footage I hadn't seen in other older movies or even other references to it.  I know Katy and I for sure were really touched by the short film and it helped bring it home quite a bit more. And I told Zac heading into it that I thought getting to see some footage (not quite knowing what it would entail completely) and seeing the memorial would be a far more interesting history lesson than any he will ever get in a classroom.  I think he certainly took something from it that he will remember several years from now when he studies this in school.

We came back from the tour fairly exhausted and rested up before heading out to dinner. While Gary and Nell took the kids for a dip in the ocean and then to McDonald's, Katy, Mickie and I headed to Shore Fyre (http://www.shorefyre.com), which is actually the same place the others had gone earlier today for breakfast. We enjoyed our meal, and it's this little spot next to a surf shop, on the below ground level about a block off the main drag next to the beach. Good place. After that we did some souvenir shopping and then headed to the Häagen Dazs for a cone. THAT was a good idea. The main road everything sits on here is ridiculously busy, not only with people, but with cars. It's also very unique. About every half block there is someone else playing music, including a guy singing Christian songs tonight, and we sure appreciated his effort on those. It's not the first city I've been in where this occurs, but the dynamic here is very different, very creative but very different and intriguing. Kind of a fascinating place.