Hawaii Part 2 (of 3)

Day 3 we got up really early (which still wasn't a problem. Thank you, jet lag.) and stopped at McDonalds on our way to catch the shuttle to Pearl Harbor. I only mention this because McDonalds in Hawaii has all the same things as McDonalds in other places but you get fresh pineapple with every value meal. You can also get Spam, eggs, and rice. And as tempting as that was, I passed on the Spam. So then we caught our shuttle for a Pearl Harbor and Honolulu city tour.

Pearl Harbor

USS Bowfin

Matt on the deck of the Bowfin

Pearl Harbor is amazing. Sadly, what's amazing about it is that such a tragic event occured there. We only had a couple hours there due to time constraints for our tour so we didn't get to tour the USS Missouri or the Pacific Aviation Museum. And we missed the movie at the Pearl Harbor visitors center. Someday I'd really like to go back and see those. We did get to tour the USS Bowfin submarine. Right outside the submarine is a whole memorial to all the submarines that were lost in WWII. There are a lot. I had no idea. It was neat to see inside the submarine. It's pretty long but very very narrow. I've seen submarines on tv and they never look this cramped. I got a little bit claustrophobic. It was still a cool tour.

Torpedo Shaft

Heidi going through a hatch

Teeny tiny galley

Itty bitty living space

Matt messing up the controls

Next we took a launch to the USS Arizona memorial. It was a very sobering experience. When we got into the memorial nobody talked above a whisper. The memorial is built right over the actual ship and a few parts of the ship are visible above the water line. And then you walk into the room that has the list. It's a list of everyone who was lost on that ship December 7, 1941. I don't even know anyone on there but as soon as I saw it I started to cry. It was very sad.

USS Arizona memorial

Part of the USS Arizona

Memorial wall

After Pearl Harbor we toured Honolulu. We saw Chinatown, Iolani Palace, Punchbowl Crater, the mission houses, the State Capitol, even Dog the Bounty Hunter's office. The only place we got out was Iolani Palace - the only palace on American soil. There is a statue of King Kamehameha right outside. And our bus driver was great. He had lots of interesting information to share. After our tour we finally got to go swimming in the ocean! It was so much fun. And the water is so salty you barely even have to tread water and you stay afloat. Waikiki beach is pretty crowded but there's plenty of room for everyone.

Iolani Palace

After our swim we were starving and wanted to go somewhere we knew the food would be good. The day before, we tried some random place and the food was not very good. We decided to stick to places we'd heard were good or places in our tour book. The Rainbow Drive-in was only about a mile or so from our hotel so we decided to walk. We walked up Ala Wai which is a canal that runs the length of Waikiki and it was beautiful. And the food at Rainbow Drive-in was really good. Matt and I both got the mixed plate lunch which has BBQ steak, fried chicken and mahi mahi as well as rice and macaroni salad. Yum!

Matt on Ala Wai

Rainbow Drive-In

Heidi with her mixed plate

Day 4 we went back to Eggs n' Things for breakfast. We ordered my omelet and pancakes from day 2 to share and a huge fruit cup full of papaya, pineapple, oranges, kiwi, and pears. Then we caught our shuttle for the rainforest and Manoa waterfall. On the way to the rain forest we passed the house Barrack Obama grew up in and his elementary school. The rainforest is beautiful! Lots of interesting plants and trees. It wasn't really hot but it was super humid. We saw where some of Lost was filmed and Monday's helicopter crash on Hawaii Five-0. The hike to the waterfall isn't very long or hard but we forgot our bug spray and so have lots of bites to show for our hike. The waterfall wasn't as impressive as I thought it would be but it was still kind of neat. Around the corner from the base of the trail there's an arboretum so we got to see more cool plants and trees.

A Lost sight

Heidi in the rainforest

Matt on a cool path

Matt and Heidi at the waterfall

In the afternoon we tried out the bus system. We were a little nervous because the only times we'd been out of Waikiki were on shuttles but it didn't seem too complicated. We wanted to go to the flea market at Aloha Stadium and see what fun souvenirs they had there. Fortunately for us, the bus system is really easy and inexpensive. It took a little over an hour to get to the stadium but since everything's super laid back in Hawaii, and we were on vacation, we didn't mind the ride. The flea market went ALL the way around the outside of the stadium. It took us a good hour and a half to get all the way around. They had jewelry and clothes, toys and trinkets. Some of the prices were pretty good. They had these cute little frogs with jagged backs that you rub a stick across and it actually sounds like a bullfrog. We got one of those for Jarom. And of course we got some shaved ice. After the flea market we went swimming in the ocean again. I don't think I'd ever get tired of that! We ended the day at Cheesecake Factory with some Hawaiian specials.

Outside the rainforest

Aloha Stadium flea market