We had the opportunity to visit Pearl Harbor and the USS Arizona memorial while in Oahu. The exhibits were incredibly interesting and humbling! I didn’t realize that the island of Oahu had been under martial law during the war. I learned that the entire attack was really meant to disable the southern pacific fleet so the Japanese could wreck havoc elsewhere without fear of retaliation. I also learned that several of the damaged ships were able to be raised and saw more tours.
We took a ferry out to the Arizona memorial. It was such a sobering experience, I don’t think anyone talked while we were out there.
Each of the markers is over a ship of the fleet that sunk in the attack. Oil is still coming up from the Arizona, now a tomb of the men inside.
The Bowfin was a submarine you could also tour.
The Arizona memorial faces the USS Missouri, it’s so symbolic…the beginning and end. The attack on Pearl Harbor brought us into the War and the treaty to end the war was signed on the decks of the Missouri. We also got to tour the “Mighty Mo” (more in the next post).
We had the chance to visit these awesome botanical gardens that were free to the public. It was so neat to see such a variety of strange and wonderful plants. The gardens were so big we even got separated and lost for a little bit, but definitely had fun exploring.
Tour guide Leslie pointed out this YMCA camp as we passed on the way to the beach. It was used on the show LOST as the “Others” camp. Since being home Andy and I have started watching the show again on Netflix and WOW it’s totally Hawaii!
This was one of those adventures that didn’t exactly turn out as planned. We started out on the trail along the beach, it was going to be a mile in and we were supposed to find monk seals. Leslie had seen them there several times before. The trail was a bit rocky but really flat and not that bad…except the kids kept running and wiping out. Seriously, like falling five times between the two of them. We used up all our bandaids, but they didn’t help the whining and complaining. I’m not sure what the issue was but we finally decided to call the trail quits and headed down to the beach.
It was really beautiful here, the mountains just immediately jutted up from the ocean.
Cassidy unhappy about life. Grandma trying to salvage the situation.
Sandy butt!
The kids ended up having a blast playing down by the water. Waves were too big to swim in, but they had fun running away from them. We found lots of pieces of coral and little treasures here too. It ended up being a nice adventure after all :)
I thought it appropriate to share these now that we’re home. The sunset this night was beautiful and kept changing as time went on.
The kids enjoyed lots of stories from grandma and grandpa Lute. So sweet how much they bonded in the few weeks we were there. Especially since the kids were pretty little when my dad and Leslie headed to Hawaii and have really just gotten to hang out with them over skype.
I still have TONS more adventures to share! So.Many.Pictures. :)
Leslie watched the kids while my dad took Andy and I to the Pillbox trail. The drive there was through a valley between mountains and was SO green and lush. My dad pointed out the staircase in the photo below and said it’s called the Stairway to Heaven and that it’s an insane trail people hike.
My dad let us borrow chains for our sneakers. I’m so glad we had them, while the trail wasn’t too extreme it was pretty muddy and slippery.
Dad leading the way!
There are several pillboxes on the ridge around the island. They were used as lookouts in WWII.
Views up there were amazing!
You can see the second pillbox on the trail in the upper right corner.
Andy had looked up several geocaches on the trail and we found one but couldn’t find the others we’d been searching for. Such a neat hobby to be able to do at home and halfway around the world!
We hiked to three different pillboxes, some smaller than others. Rain started moving in and my camera was getting a little foggy as we ventured on. The hike back down was even more slippery but we made it, only a little muddier than when we’d begun.
My dad treated us to lunch at a cute cafe afterwards. One of the signs on the window warned us to not feed the chickens. I laughed, but it’s true, there are tons of wild chickens and roosters walking around the streets. Just like you’d see squirrels back home, Hawaii has chickens :)
This was actually one of the first adventures we had last week. Sharks Cove was a neat spot on the north shore with tide pools and little pockets of water protected from the bigger waves. We explored, played and I got to snorkel for the first time too. It was very cool, like a completely different world under the water! Andy got some fun video on his gopro I’ll have to share once he uploads it. We timed it really well (mommy IS a planner…) and waves for high tide started coming in and filling up the pools by the time we were done exploring.
This is grumpy Cassidy being a grump. True to “three-nager” status one minute she’s a bubbly delight of squishy happiness. The other she’s scowling at Ben, ignoring grandpa and screaming that she doesn’t like the snack you gave her. Just so you don’t think it’s all rainbows and unicorns over here ;-) We love her anyway.
After the cove we headed to Green World Coffee. Actually, we’ve stopped two more times as we’ve passed it on other outings. Andy hit the coffee sample bar pretty hard and the kids enjoyed their shaved ice. It’s a neat spot!
There have been a few waves that scared them and some scraped knees and blood (or “blub” as the kids call it). We’ve had to explain that sometimes bandaids are part of the adventure!
