Todd got a pineapple whip cream with nuts waffle. He really liked it. Todd doesn’t eat eggs so he couldn’t partake in the “Eggs” of “Eggs & Things”, ha ha.
I got corned beef hash and eggs. It was pretty good but not the best I’ve had.
My food also came with a side of 3 pancakes. This was better than the hash and eggs! Especially after I put the coconut syrup on there. :)
After breakfast we walked back to the hotel and rested our bellies for about an hour. Then it was time to get a run in down by the canal. By the time we got down to the canal path, it was a little bit too hot and sunny to run, but since we were only running 2-3 miles, we persevered. Gotta fit the exercise in if we’re “vacation-eating”!
Came back to room to shower, then we headed out to lunch at Ono Seafood. This place was recommended by Greg from the food tour, plus got many many great Yelp reviews. It was a very non-descript place. For $7.50 (tax included), I got a combo bowl with brown rice, spicy ahi poke, and shoyu poke. (Yes, everything was raw ahi tuna.)
Todd got the spicy ahi bowl for $7. The price also included a 12 oz can of soda as well. What a great deal!
We sat at the communal table out front and ate our food. It was very good but not as good as the spicy ahi poke I had on Kauai on our last day. Todd also liked it but didn't love it.
After lunch, we drove down the street to park at Safeway. Then we walked across the street to Leonard's to get malasadas for dessert. (It was our last stop on the Hawaii Food Tour on Monday.)
Todd got two custard filled malasadas, while I got one original. It was warm, soft, fresh, and so good! Even the finches loved them. They hung around under our foot just waiting for us to drop some so they could eat it. After Leonard's, we went to Safeway to get some more popcorn, Coke, papayas, and snack bars for our hike tomorrow.
Next we headed over to Pearl Harbor, our highlight of the day. It only took us about 25 minutes to get there.
The parking was free, and so was the tour of the museums and to the USS Arizona Memorial. The only thing we paid for was $7.50 each to get the audio tour so we could press buttons and hear explanations of what we were looking at. I love audio tours so that was a must!
We were able to walk around and do parts of the audio tour inside the museums before getting into the 3pm showing in the theater. The tour started with a map of the Pacific in 1941.
This was the USS Bowfin submarine.
A monument dedicated to the marines who served Pearl Harbor.
An aerial photo of the morning that the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor, and how the United States battleships were positioned around the harbor.
This was an anchor recovered from the USS Arizona.
A steam-driven torpedo.
At the beginning of the museum, they show pictures of a few people in 1941 and their names and what their roles were before the attack. At the end of the tour, they show more recent photos of some of the survivors and what they’ve done with their lives since then.
After the introduction movie, we got onto the ferry to go to the USS Arizonal Memorial.
It was a very short ride. Pretty soon, the USS Arizona Memorial was in sight.
Around the Arizona, we can see moorings of where the other battleships were on the morning of December 7th, 1941.
The USS Arizona Memorial is built over the remains of the sunken battleship USS Arizona, the final resting place for many of the 1,177 crewmen killed on December 7, 1941 when their ship was bombed by Japanese Naval Forces. I couldn’t get any aerial photos but you can see them at the national park service site here.
We disembarked and walked onto the memorial. It was very solemn.
Based on the diagram that I saw later, this was the base of a gun turret.
There are still droplets of fuel oil rising to the water’s surface, as they slowly leak from the ship in several places. Some 500,000 gallons of fuel oil remains on board in dozens of tanks.
The ship’s remains under water.
A plaque dedicated to the shipmates on the USS Arizona.
A diagram showing the remains of the ship.
The entrance to the shrine room, where the names of the fallen are carved on the memorial.
Names of the survivors who had later died and chosen to have their ashes entombed with their shipmates in the remains of the Arizona. The most recent one was the week before we visited. The curator/guide who told us that fact chocked up and held back her tears as she spoke of the event.
The two of us on the USS Arizona Memorial, with our audio tour headphones on.
Some people brought flower pedals and spread them over the oil droplets. Flower pedals are the only thing you’re allowed to throw from the memorial.
While we were on the Arizona Memorial, it started pouring rain. We got totally soaked as we ran back to the ferry. The seats on the ferry were all wet. After we got back we spent more time in the museum and audio tour.
A model of the Japanese aircraft carrier that carried their attack planes.
This display was very large and filled an entire wall. It really gave perspective how how the US battleships were positioned when the Japanese attacked with their torpedoes.
A photo of the devastation.
A model of the Arizona Memorial and how it goes right over the remains of the ship, without touching it.
We left at 5pm, right at closing. It was three hours well spent and I felt solemn and sad, yet inspired. Everything there was well done and helped us think about the horror of what went on there. And it’s free. I highly recommend it if you visit Oahu, Hawaii. It is well worth it.
On the way back to Waikiki, we encountered some traffic but not too bad. We went to Kaka'ako Kitchen for dinner, inside the Ward Shopping Center. They had gourmet plate lunches here, and Kelly Hu had taken my cousin here to eat when they were both there for the Hawaii International Film Festival.
Todd got the special for Wednesday, the Chicken Fried Chicken, which was fried chicken with gravy, garlic mashed potatoes, and green salad.
I got the Hamburger Steak, which was similar to Loco Moco but without eggs (had some this am already) and with onion stack on top. The gravy was really good! I really like it, and Todd liked his too. It just wasn’t health food, LOL.
After dinner, we walked around Ward Center and saw some fantastically holiday decorated windows.
We got back to the hotel and I called Lara to set up our meetup tomorrow. We ate some fresh pineapple with li hing powder. We watched Barbara Walter's 10 most fascinating people of 2011. We were tired so we went to bed early. After all, the next day we have to wake up at 5:15am for a hike up a volcano!
I'm enjoying Oahu through your photos. "Healthy food?" Hard to find, isn't it? I think we like eating there more than anything else.
ReplyDeleteJune K.
I love eating spicy ahi on rice, yum! I haven't been to the Arizona in years. They recently renovated so I think it is about time for visit. You are right, it is a very solemn place and people often forget that it is a memorial. They just marked the 70th anniversary of the attack this year. We actually live about 10 from there.
ReplyDeleteMy grandpa was in the Navy up until about one week before Pearl Harbor. He lost a lot of his friends in the attack and would not often talk about his time in the service because of it. I have a lot of his things from the Navy but I will never really know about it because he would not tell his story. I'm sad that Pearl Harbor took that from me. :(
ReplyDeleteAfter 2011, I think we can apprecialte Pear Harbor for the devistation it was. You captured some really good photos of that. MOM
ReplyDelete