10 August 2011: Honolulu, Hawaii

We ended up sleeping in a bit today. As we were planning to be out for most of the day, we opted to upgrade our breakfast from the free Continental version to the full breakfast, which includes made-to-order omelets, Belgian waffles, bacon, potatoes, and so on. The omelets proved to be delicious and I had two, one with bacon and tomatoes and one with only tomatoes.  Delicious.

After breakfast, we got our car and drove out to Pearl Harbor, which was our plan for the day. Driving a Mustang convertible down Interstate H1 was awesome…I’m really glad we got this car. :) After we arrived at Pearl Harbor, we got the lay of the land. The Arizona Memorial is free and then there are three other attractions that you need to pay for, a visit to the U.S.S. Missouri, a visit to the U.S.S. Bowfin with submarine museum, and the Pacific Aviation Museum. We opted to do the first two but pass on the aviation museum. As this ended up being a long day, this was a pretty good idea.

The Arizona Memorial, which is the central site here, is free but you need to get tickets, which are time stamped. We got our tickets a little before 10am and they were good for 12.30pm, so we opted to go to the U.S.S. Bowfin first. This is an attack submarine that was first launched shortly after the Pearl Harbor attacks and was known as the Pearl Harbor Avenger, due to the sheer number of Japanese ships she sank. We walked all of the way through the submarine with the same audio tour devices that we used in Europe a few years back at pretty much all of the self-guided tours. Seeing this was really cool. After the submarine tour, we went into the submarine museum, which included a history of submarine warfare. In a previous career, I did some design work on some stuff that was for the Virginia-class fast attack submarines (the current line of fast attacks in the U.S. Navy) and the Virginia-class was the last exhibit here…that was awesome to see, especially since the U.S.S. Virginia (and the U.S.S. Hawaii) is currently in active service. We also saw a bunch of other cool exhibits, including a massive Japanese piloted torpedo. All of the Bowfin stuff was really cool and if you are at all interested in submarine warfare, this is a must.

The U.S.S. Bowfin

Me, driving.

At the bow.

After the Bowfin, we headed over to the Arizona memorial after Cin took some pictures. This site starts off with a 25min or so video that explains the history of Pearl Harbor and the Japanese attack. Then, we filed on to a boat that took us out to the memorial, which is a floating structure over the sunken hull of the U.S.S. Arizona. You can see a few portions of the hull that rise out of the water (such as a gun turret) and can make out the outline of the main hull, which sits under water. There is also a constant oil spill out of the hull, going since the ship was sunk and expected to go for another 30 to 35 years...that's just amazing (horrible, but amazing). You spent about 15min or so on the memorial and then the next boat takes you back. This was awesome to see and a very fitting tribute to the individuals that lost their lives onboard and who are still entombed within. Following Navy tradition, those that are entombed within the Arizona are still listed as on Active Duty.

The Arizona memorial.

Those that were entombed with the U.S.S. Arizona.

After the Arizona, we headed over to the U.S.S. Missouri, which is on Ford Island, near where the Arizona hull rests. We boarded a shuttle bus that took us directly to it, which was a nice and short ride. The U.S.S. Missouri was the last active battleship to be decommissioned and is also the site where Japanese leaders signed the Instrument of Surrender that ended World War II. After being decommissioned for nearly thirty years, she was recommissioned and modernized during the Cold War and now rests as a floating museum. This was a self-guided tour and we spent a good hour or so walking the ship, seeing what life was like onboard, seeing the massive guns that can fire a round over 20 miles, and all sorts of other things. So much more room onboard a battleship that a submarine. After exploring, we got back on the shuttle and went back to the main center, having spent a good amount of the day here.

Approach to the Mighty Mo.

Sleeping in an enlisted bunk.

Computing Center, with custom artwork!

R2D2, eh?

Do NOT mess with my wife.

We headed back to the hotel and took a bit of a rest. We then opted to walk up the street a bit to Cheeseburger Waikiki (their webpage is here and their TripAdvisor page is here), which is pretty much what you would expect based on the name. Cin had a burger stuffed with cheddar cheese and avocado and I had a BBQ bacon burger. Cin really liked her burger and mine was decent but pretty unremarkable. Our waiter also forgot our appetizer, which was somewhat disappointing. All in all, this place was all right but I’ve had better burgers before. After dinner, we went over to the ice cream place in the Hilton Hawaiian Village and got some dessert before bed. Then, off to sleep, planning to get up early to hike up Diamondhead in the morning.