Happy Memorial Day!
Showing posts with label Pearl Harbor. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Pearl Harbor. Show all posts
Monday, May 28, 2012
Monday, May 30, 2011
Photo of the Week: Hawaii
I will be taking off of posting for the rest of the week. I will be back next week with a giveaway, my first! After that I will be back with my regular posting about trips. Happy Memorial Day!
@Travelingiraffe on Twitter
Sunday, July 4, 2010
Happy Birthday America - Photo of The Week
Happy Birthday America!
Monday, June 22, 2009
Pearl Harbor and the last day in Hawaii
This was the last day of Tara and I's cruise as well as the day we were visiting Pearl Harbor and flying home.
We were up at 6:15 to get all of our stuff together and make sure nothing was getting left behind. Despite not liking the Aloha Cafe we decided to go back, but we had a plan. We were going to grab a table and then take turns getting food. This worked out OK and we were done with breakfast with plenty of time to get to the Hollywood Theatre, which was our tour meeting place. Departure was fine, though one of the escalators was broken which slowed things down.
We boarded our bus and our driver was good, he explained that we would not be able to go to the cemetery, which was closed for the Memorial Day weekend for only family of military. We were dropped off at 9:15 and had a 10:45 tour of the Arizona Memorial. We decided to first go to the area with the rockets by the Bowfin. I got some pictures of the rockets and there was an area with little monuments for all the ships lost at sea with their story and a list of the lives lost, it was really nice. Next we walked back over to the main museum.
For a $5 donation you can get the audio tour. I recommend this for 2 reasons - first, you hear good info about the museum and the events surrounding December 7, but even better is that you are making a donation to the museum. The museum did
seem a bit crowded at times and in different spots, but they are building a new one which should be ready next year. There are a lot of good displays and I enjoyed the tour. On the tour for the Arizona you first see a movie, which was very good, and got me a bit misty eyed. You are reminded to be quiet on the tour which now takes a boat to the site of the Arizona and the Memorial there. I was surprised at how quiet people actually are. I've been to a lot of places where you should be quiet and peoples ability to do that varies greatly, until the end when we were boarding our boat back everyone was very quiet. The memorial was really nice. From the sides you can see parts of the Arizona that are near the surface. In the middle there are diagrams of the ship as it sits today. In the middle there is a cut out where you can see the oil that is seeping out of the Arizona. In the back is a wall with a list of the names of all those lost, and a list of those who survived but were later buried at the Arizona. I really liked it and the experience.
Next we took a shuttle over to the Missouri Battleship, where the armistice was signed. This was pretty good too, though not nearly as good as the Arizona Memorial. If you're not into looking at military ships then this might not be the best use of time, but it's still interesting. Tara seemed to find this a form of torture, and it was quite hot and it's not really something I'm that interested in, so we did a more abbreviated tour. It would have been nice to do a tour just to hear about the armistice, but as for looking at the mock ups of what crew areas
looked like, not so much. But then, I have seen several military boats in the past so I know some of what would be said. On the Missouri they do have the US and Japanese copies of the armistice, which was really neat to see. After we looked around the ship we had lunch, shopped, and then waited to leave. I felt like we had a little more time here then we needed, but that's better then not enough time.
After the Missouri we did a little tour of Honolulu. We visited the downtown area
with the Palace and the oldest church in Hawaii, which Tara and I had already seen. We also took a ride through China Town which apparently isn't a safe place to visit after dark. Since we couldn't go to the cemetery we made a stop at Nuuanu Pali Park which had more beautiful scenery.
We were dropped off at the airport a little after 4 and had to kill 4 hours before out flights back home.
We were up at 6:15 to get all of our stuff together and make sure nothing was getting left behind. Despite not liking the Aloha Cafe we decided to go back, but we had a plan. We were going to grab a table and then take turns getting food. This worked out OK and we were done with breakfast with plenty of time to get to the Hollywood Theatre, which was our tour meeting place. Departure was fine, though one of the escalators was broken which slowed things down.
We boarded our bus and our driver was good, he explained that we would not be able to go to the cemetery, which was closed for the Memorial Day weekend for only family of military. We were dropped off at 9:15 and had a 10:45 tour of the Arizona Memorial. We decided to first go to the area with the rockets by the Bowfin. I got some pictures of the rockets and there was an area with little monuments for all the ships lost at sea with their story and a list of the lives lost, it was really nice. Next we walked back over to the main museum.
For a $5 donation you can get the audio tour. I recommend this for 2 reasons - first, you hear good info about the museum and the events surrounding December 7, but even better is that you are making a donation to the museum. The museum did
seem a bit crowded at times and in different spots, but they are building a new one which should be ready next year. There are a lot of good displays and I enjoyed the tour. On the tour for the Arizona you first see a movie, which was very good, and got me a bit misty eyed. You are reminded to be quiet on the tour which now takes a boat to the site of the Arizona and the Memorial there. I was surprised at how quiet people actually are. I've been to a lot of places where you should be quiet and peoples ability to do that varies greatly, until the end when we were boarding our boat back everyone was very quiet. The memorial was really nice. From the sides you can see parts of the Arizona that are near the surface. In the middle there are diagrams of the ship as it sits today. In the middle there is a cut out where you can see the oil that is seeping out of the Arizona. In the back is a wall with a list of the names of all those lost, and a list of those who survived but were later buried at the Arizona. I really liked it and the experience.
Next we took a shuttle over to the Missouri Battleship, where the armistice was signed. This was pretty good too, though not nearly as good as the Arizona Memorial. If you're not into looking at military ships then this might not be the best use of time, but it's still interesting. Tara seemed to find this a form of torture, and it was quite hot and it's not really something I'm that interested in, so we did a more abbreviated tour. It would have been nice to do a tour just to hear about the armistice, but as for looking at the mock ups of what crew areas
looked like, not so much. But then, I have seen several military boats in the past so I know some of what would be said. On the Missouri they do have the US and Japanese copies of the armistice, which was really neat to see. After we looked around the ship we had lunch, shopped, and then waited to leave. I felt like we had a little more time here then we needed, but that's better then not enough time. After the Missouri we did a little tour of Honolulu. We visited the downtown area
with the Palace and the oldest church in Hawaii, which Tara and I had already seen. We also took a ride through China Town which apparently isn't a safe place to visit after dark. Since we couldn't go to the cemetery we made a stop at Nuuanu Pali Park which had more beautiful scenery. We were dropped off at the airport a little after 4 and had to kill 4 hours before out flights back home.
Friday, April 17, 2009
Hawaii by cruise
My trip to Hawaii is barely a month away so I thought I would give an update on my plans there. Tara and I will be sailing with NCL America on the Pride of America on May 16.
We're flying out on May 15 to Honolulu and will be spending the night on Waikiki Beach. The following day we will try to spend a little time at Waikiki and then head back over to Honolulu to drop our luggage off at the ship and take a little time to explore downtown Honolulu. If we can we would both like to do a tour of the only palace on US Soil, Iolanai Palace. Then we'll go back and board the ship, hopefully our luggage will have made it to our room by then.
May 17th and May 18th we'll be in Maui where we'll be doing excursions for the Road to Hana and to Haleakala Crater for sunrise. If we're still awake after that then we'll probably go to a beach for a while, or maybe some shopping. You can sleep when you get home, right?
May 19th we'll be in Hilo and are renting a convertible to go see Volcano's National Park.
May 20th is Kona where we plan on taking a glass bottom boat and hitting the beach.
May 21st and 22nd we'll be in Kauai. Here we'll do an excursion to Wailua River and Fern Grotto and also a helicopter tour of the island - Tara refers to that as the day she is going to die. She's very excited she just has trouble expressing herself.
May 23rd they kick us off the ship. Since our flight isn't until 8pm we will go see Pearl Harbor on this day.
We're flying out on May 15 to Honolulu and will be spending the night on Waikiki Beach. The following day we will try to spend a little time at Waikiki and then head back over to Honolulu to drop our luggage off at the ship and take a little time to explore downtown Honolulu. If we can we would both like to do a tour of the only palace on US Soil, Iolanai Palace. Then we'll go back and board the ship, hopefully our luggage will have made it to our room by then.
May 17th and May 18th we'll be in Maui where we'll be doing excursions for the Road to Hana and to Haleakala Crater for sunrise. If we're still awake after that then we'll probably go to a beach for a while, or maybe some shopping. You can sleep when you get home, right?
May 19th we'll be in Hilo and are renting a convertible to go see Volcano's National Park.
May 20th is Kona where we plan on taking a glass bottom boat and hitting the beach.
May 21st and 22nd we'll be in Kauai. Here we'll do an excursion to Wailua River and Fern Grotto and also a helicopter tour of the island - Tara refers to that as the day she is going to die. She's very excited she just has trouble expressing herself.
May 23rd they kick us off the ship. Since our flight isn't until 8pm we will go see Pearl Harbor on this day.
Wednesday, April 15, 2009
Pearl Harbor
I was recently watching a documentary about the Pearl Harbor attack, it was called Tora Tora Tora, not to be confused with the movie of the same name. It was really good, it went over the history of the relationship between the United States and Japan prior to Pearl Harbor and why the Japanese attacked. It closed with a segment about the 50th Anniversary. They had a memorial event there and Japanese veterans were invited to the event. It was interesting to hear the American survivors of the attack speak about meeting the Japanese. The Japanese who were interviewed were ones who had actively participated in the bombing of Pearl Harbor. Many of the American veterans seem to have forgiven them, I was a little surprised. There were also some veterans who have not been able to forgive these Japanese veterans. As a nation we have moved past the events, as we should, though as individuals we all deal with these things differently. I started to think about Pearl Harbor and the memorial that I am going to see in a few weeks a little differently.
I've been to many similar types of places in the world - Gettysburg, Dachau Concentration Camp, WWI Trenches, Khatyn Village and the the World Trade Center site. These are great places that help you remember those have fallen before us, but I think sometimes we forget about those who live on with the scars of those events, that was one of the things I got out of this documentary. These are the people who live with the violence of the event, remember their friends who did not survive, and ultimately must find peace with the event and maybe or maybe not find forgiveness for those who perpetrated those acts. The survivors are the ones who keep the history alive for the rest of us, so we can can remember those who were lost, but we can't forget to remember those who have survived. That's something I'll remember when I'm in Pearl Harbor.
I've been to many similar types of places in the world - Gettysburg, Dachau Concentration Camp, WWI Trenches, Khatyn Village and the the World Trade Center site. These are great places that help you remember those have fallen before us, but I think sometimes we forget about those who live on with the scars of those events, that was one of the things I got out of this documentary. These are the people who live with the violence of the event, remember their friends who did not survive, and ultimately must find peace with the event and maybe or maybe not find forgiveness for those who perpetrated those acts. The survivors are the ones who keep the history alive for the rest of us, so we can can remember those who were lost, but we can't forget to remember those who have survived. That's something I'll remember when I'm in Pearl Harbor.
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