Pearl Harbor

As you may know, Shawn has been doing a considerable amount of traveling the last six weeks for work.  His last trip was to Oahu, Hawaii!!  I jokingly told him when he found out he was going there that he better take his wife along.  He agreed ;)  After much thought about whether or not I should really leave the kids that long, we decided I had to go.  Who knows when we'd ever get there again.  We had it all set up, our parents would watch the kids while we were gone.  Thank God for great family!

On our long, long, long flight over there we discussed what we wanted to see over the weekend we were there.  Shawn had to report to work on Monday at the Marine Base.  Our original flight out of Columbus was delayed for a long while, we missed both of our connecting flights.  American Air got us to Honolulu the following morning after stops in Dallas/Ft. Worth and San Francisco.

Our first stop...  Pearl Harbor!  But... Deetra was starving!  No fear, a great restaurant was beside the parking lots.  It is called Schrooner's and it is wonderful.  As with most places on the island, it is an open-air restaurant with a great view of the harbor.  See...

Back to the very humbling, sobering sights of Pearl Harbor.  First you must see the actual anchor that was recovered from the USS Arizona.  It is massive!

This area tells about the events that occurred on that Sunday morning in December, 1941.  It has a neat map, and the blue area has names of the soldiers.

This is the view from an area called Contemplation Circle.  You are looking out into the harbor at the USS Arizona Memorial.

You must take a boat ride out to the Memorial.  It is free of charge but you have to get a ticket and they sell out early, every day.  We were lucky to snag a couple of stand-by tickets.  They have markers for the other ships that were in the harbor that day.  Here is the Nevada.

Here is the Vestal marker.

Arriving at the Memorial and seeing what is "left" of her...

Where the Arizona was tied-up.

You can still see some of the ship in the water.

The bottom left corner you see an oil area.  The Arizona still leaks oil, today!

Names of the soldiers who were aboard and buried under where you are standing.  Talk about sobering to read this.  There is a Huntington.  We did not find any other last name of anyone in either of our families.

The whole wall.

If you stand on the observation area of the Memorial, this is looking back at the harbor.  Can you imagine what it was like on that day?

There is also a Museum, the USS Bowfin, missiles, gift shops, ect... For you to look at.  We did look through this control area of the sub.  I had phobia's just standing in it, I'm not sure how those sailors did it.

Pearl Harbor was a must-see for us and we are so glad we went there.  Three of our Grandfather's served in the U.S. Navy and it was something to behold this sight.  If you don't tear up at this place, nothing gets to you.

More pictures coming soon from our week-long adventure!!