Bob and Carol in Hawaii 2017: February 2017

Tuesday, February 28, 2017

Day 3, Tuesday - USS Arizona and Battleship Missouri tours

USS Arizona interred 1177 seamen and marines. There have been additional crewmen interred in a special ceremony to rejoin their shipmates. Divers take the cremains in an urn out to gun turret four and place it in a large hole. Elvis Presley performed a concert to raise money for the Arizona Memorial structure.

Tree of Life window

25 feet beyond this #3 gun turret is where the cremains are interred.

7 windows on each side and on the top represent a 21 gun salute.

We took the standard tour of the Mighty MO today. So an update is that the decking actually is teak wood, just a new layer. It is part of the ongoing renovations. There are a few places that have original teak wood. Somehow I had missed the kamikaze attack that hit the starboard side of the ship. We could see the dents in the top rim of the deck. Captain William M. Callaghan ordered the body of the Japanese pilot to be found and prepared for a military burial at sea. Since there was no Japanese flag on board, some crewmen hand sewed one to drape over the body. Saw more of the crew and officer quarters and reproductions of the Surrender documents.

Reproduction of the signatures on the surrender documents.

Kamikaze damage.

Wrapping up our tour was a drive through the Punchbowl National Cemetery and drive by several well know sites - the Iolani Palace, statue of King Kamehameha, and the Museum with the largest collection of Polynesian artifacts, including King Kamehameha's cape which measures over 7 feet and did not touch the ground when he wore it.

On our tour guide's recommendations, we hit two local hot spots. Rainbow Drive-In for burgers and fries. Opened in 1961, it was totally packed with parking definitely at a premium. Famous for their plate lunches which are $7.95-$9.25. My cheeseburger was $2.95 and Bob's double cheeseburger. deluxe was $4.25. What a bargain. Then we went to Leonard's Bakery which was opened in 1952. Again, totally packed and spilling out onto the street. Not being up on our Lenten protocols (and on vacation we forgot it was Fat Tuesday. Also this is Hawaii, not New Orleans), we did not realize that a good many people standing in and around the bakery were there for Fat Tuesday which is called Shrove Tuesday here. The malasadas which are Portuguese donuts with no holes where introduced specifically for Shrove Tuesday.

Day 2: Heart of Missouri tour and Polynesian Cultural Center

Bright and early this morning, well, not so bright. Overcast all day with low hanging clouds on the mountain tops but the rain held off until almost 6pm. Our first stop was the Arizona Memorial Center where we picked up our tour bus to Ford Island and the Mighty MO. Our tour today was the inside of the battleship - engine rooms, fire rooms, crew quarters, turret housing. Fun stuff, lots of bells and whistles. We have a renewed sense of admiration for service men, sorry, no women, who can work in such cramped areas and keep us all safe. The highlight was the simulator for the 36" guns on the port and starboard sides. Not the really big ones aft and stern. Tomorrow we will take another tour around the top deck where the Surrender documents were signed. We were surprised that much of the top deck is wood though the bow and stern sections have been replaced with what looks like laminate.

Heart of Missouri Tour

Projectile and gunpowder delivery tray.

Firing gun turret simulator.

Lockout tags for decommission

Broadway with overhead track. Watch your knees and your head.

Example of crew artwork found throughout the ship.

This is gun battery two, 16 inch/50 caliber. 23 mile range with pinpoint accuracy.

Our next stop after returning to the Arizona Memorial Center was the Polynesian Cultural Center which is an hours drive north. Lots of singing, dancing, story telling, history, craft work and food. Samoa and Tonga were our favorites but they were all very beautiful. We saw the float parade of countries and a show at Tonga. The luau was fun and yes, they roasted the pigs in a pit covered with leaves. Carol and I got to dance to the Hawaiian Wedding song on stage with "many" others, because we are celebrating our anniversary this trip. The visit to Tonga had extra special meaning. The Queen Mother Halaevalu Mata’aho died Sunday at the age of 90 and was being buried the day we attended. Black was mixed in with their clothing and the Queen Mother's house had a special dedication.

QUIZ - One of these 5 figures is Bob. Can you pick him out?
(hint... he has a hat)

Carol enjoying a Mango smoothie at the Luau. She did share with Bob.

Two Luau dancers; they're the tall ones.

An unexpected side trip before the luau was a drive up the coast the Banzai Pipeline beach commonly called "Pipeline or just "Pipe" for all you surfing fans. We arrived rather late in the day to watch about two dozen surfers trying to "hang ten" (dating myself here) in the pounding waves. Having only seen east coast of Florida waves during my formative years, these looks much more intense. And these were not competition size. That really would be terrifying.

This wave is about 6 feet, some where bigger. Sadly we missed peak season by two weeks.

Sunday, February 26, 2017

Day 1: Arrive in Oahu

Early morning (5:15am) for our drive to the airport. Surprisingly little traffic on a Sunday. Made it through check in and security without taking our shoes off, though Carol did run into a problem with the metal detector. Seems her hat has too many metal beads. Disregard the security guy who kept asking if she had any metal hip implants or a pacemaker. They are able to pinpoint the location of what sets off the detector and he kept saying it was in the "mid-section". Don't know how he figured that since she was wearing her hat but she is kinda short. Sorry, "fun size". Flight was on time and smooth sailing.

Leg from Columbus to Los Angeles

LAX...what can we say! Ten o'clock in the morning and packed, packed, packed. Boarding was a mess, overbooked flight so they were offering cash for seats ($800) and best of all, some smart guy put dry ice in the drain at the back of the cabin. Surprise, that stuff smokes and airplane people don't like to take a plane loaded with people into the air with smoke coming out of anywhere. An hour and a half late, we pushed away from the gate only to sit in line. Image that...sitting in a line on the runway at LAX. Clearly that place is not our cup of tea or any other beverage. We decided not to partake of the proffered mimosas (is it ever too early for some people?) Great lunch of steak, potatoes, cooked spinach, salad and roll. Desert, that pesky thing that needed the aforementioned dry ice which caused all our problems, was Jeni's ice cream. If you haven't been to Ohio in the last 5-6 years, this is a Columbus hometown ice cream. O-H! I-O!

Approaching Oahu

No matter how much one anticipates a vacation in Hawaii, it comes with a butt numbing 6.5 hour flight and nothing to see for basically the whole trip.

Arrival - over 40 minutes to get a car rental. Bob likes the Jeep Patriot. Checked in and headed for Waikiki beach. Of course, by this time it was almost 6pm, sunset well under way. Beautiful.

Waikiki at sunset