Day 8 Oahu--Apr. 9

In the spirit of the intrepid explorer Captain Cook, we decided to take the public bus to Pearl Harbor today. We knew that the Arizona Memorial was closed for renovations and that the journey would take us over an hour, but considered all that to be part of the adventure. We caught the bus just down from the hotel with very little wait. With stops at nearly every corner it actually took us an hour and ten minutes to arrive at the Visitors Center. We watched the film about that fateful day of Dec. 7, 1941 in the temporary outdoor theater. Then we took the shuttle to the USS Missouri, the only remaining battle ship of the Iowa class and the one where the surrender papers were signed to end World War II. We were shown around by a Korean volunteer who did an excellent job of tying the War history into his personal history. We had plenty of time to wander around the ship, which is now set-up like a museum to not only World War II but the Korean War and Desert Storm, in all of which the ship saw action. From the deck we could easily see the Arizona Memorial. On the shuttle on the way back the driver pointed out a restaurant under the bridge to Ford Island that had a 4:00 social hour with drink and hors d’oeuvre specials. Since we hadn’t had lunch and it was 4:00 we made the short walk over and had two rounds of Mai Tais and shared four of the pupus (appetizers). That was enough to hold us for a long time. The return trip on the bus seemed to take less time but I’m not sure it was much shorter. Our waitress at breakfast had told us there were fireworks on the beach every Friday evening so we walked down to it on the sand and watch for them. After twenty minutes or so we realized there were flashes on the other side of one of the tall hotels right on the beach. By the time we walked around the point, they were over so we missed them. So we headed back to the International Market to see what the entertainment was. We found what claimed to be the oldest band in Hawaii playing a mix of blues, rock, Hawaiian and World Music. They called up an old friend to sing some numbers with them and they ended with a sort of Hawaiian Pride Anthem. It was an enjoyable last evening before we had to pack-up to leave Hawaii on Saturday.