Pearl Harbor

Here I am at the memorial for the USS Arizona

Here is the memorial dedication of the USS Arizona

Serviceman who perished

Piece of USS Arizona

This morning I visited Pearl Harbor.  What an experience. I learned a lot about the events that led up to the attack, the attack, and the salvage efforts after.  First off, the tour including the boat ride out to the memorial is complementary.  The Parks Service is pretty serious about not letting people bring in bags of any type:  purses, back packs, diaper bags, fanny packs, etc so don’t try! The Japanese launched two waves of attacks which included over 350 planes including the kamikaze pilots who’s job it was to navigate their plane into different objects therefore ending their own life.  I saw the movie Pearl Harbor with Ben Afflack but actually seeing the area made it all come to life.  Due to an overactive imagination, I’ve never had any problems imaging what different scenarios could look like.  Pearl Harbor is actually quite smaller than what I thought it would be.  The memorial is actually floating on top of the remains of several ships that were sunk during the attack including the USS Arizona who lost over 1,000 service men.  It was a very intense experience.  Freedom does come at a cost.  Sometimes that cost is the lives of our citizens.

First swim in the Pacific Ocean!

Another Beautiful Beach

Umeke Market

Me on the beach before my first dip in the Pacific Ocean.

What better way to say welcome than a scary sign.

So after working today, I drove away from Honolulu to try to find a nice peaceful area to have my first experience swimming in the Pacific Ocean.   The beach that I thought would be all right…didn’t allow swimming due to a strong current.<what do I know-I’m from New Mexico> The next beach I came to allowed swimming but it freaked me out that the first sign I see warns me of Porteguese Man-o-War.  Ahhh.  The next beach also allows swimming but has a really strong current.  <not for me>  I end up turning around and heading back to Honolulu only to find that my brand new GPS Garmin has gone dead.   i don’t think the portal I was plugged into works. I tried turning off the rental PT Cruiser, turning back on, etc.  But to no avail.  Shucks! I do love that GPS.  I was able to find one more beach but there was yet another warning of a strong tide.  Andy recommended asking the hotel staff.  So I went that route.  Turns out there is a beautiful beach two blocks away from the hotel.  So….I took the plunge.  Swimming in the Pacific Ocean was everything I thought it would be and more!!!  It was awesome.  Tomorrow, I’m going back for more.  I don’t know if I’ll have time to visit Pearl Harbor and all the other things I want to do.  But I’m going to try!!

Aleta at the beach!

Honolulu is beautiful

This is one of the many views from the front of my hotel

Look at me, Mom!!

So Honolulu is a trip.  The streets are marked a bit differently than what I’mused to, the speed limit on H1 is 50 and eventually turns into a surface street with a speed limit of 35, and I can’t quite understand what some of the locals say.  But it’s beautiful and there are birds everywhere.  The hotel is an open air one.  There are no doors and it’s lacking in a lot of walls in the reception area.  There are birds flying around.  I ate dinner at a place called Duke’s last night that is also open to the beach.  I ate dinner watching the surfers and cruise ships just hanging out.  Once again, birds everywhere.  <I just kept thinking what will they do if Avian bird flu hits?>  The locals have been so nice.  You let someone cut in front of you on H1, they wave in gratitude.  I actually kept letting people in just to see if this was consistent.  It was.  Everyone is so smiley and polite.  I took some photos and am trying to link them into this post.  I have some work to do today.  But even that’s not too stressful as say Dallas with it’s speed racers and rude drivers.  I will post more photos today.  After I am done working, its beach time!!!

Here I come Hawaii!!

I am sitting on the floor by gate D2 at PDX.  I will be boarding a Hawaiian Airlines flight to Honolulu in about 45 minutes.  Andy has decided to stay at home as he doesn’t care for the beach.  The cats were NOT happy to be woken up at 3:30 am.  Shem decided to take his fury out on the pillow and blanket laying on the couch.  <somebody got in trouble>

I have never been to Hawaii.  I’ve never left the continental United States.  I’m excited and a little nervous. <okay a lot nervous> But I desperately want to swim in the ocean.  When I was a little girl, my parents let me watch Jaws.  In hindsight, as big of a baby as I am, probably not a great idea.  I was so scared, I didn’t even want to swim in the city pool <in Melrose, NM no sharks there.  I promise>I am 30 years old and think its time to get over it.  I also want to lay on the beach.  I’ve laid on the beach in Oregon.  It was nice but the sand…it’s not like the sand on the movies.  It was really compact and not so comfy. 

So Hawaii-here I come.  By the way, my work is sending me to go train at the new Whole Foods store in Honolulu. Hawaii-here I come!!