We hopped off the ship, grabbed a taxi, and headed out to visit Pearl Harbor. The ride cost four times what a lyft cost. One of the seatbelts wouldn't buckle, the driver barely acknowledged us, and the ride caused us all to be motion sick. We decided taxis are not the way to go, but we did arrive safely.
We spent several hours at Pearl Harbor. I walked away deeply saddened. At what point is humanity going to stop throwing away the lives of our boys to settle political matters? Visiting the mass grave of victims of war left me with more questions than answers. Wars have been fought for millennia, but do we have to keep doing it? I'm not questioning the necessity of the US entering WWII, I was just left questioning why societies offer our youth as a sacrifice to their need for more power.
The memorial is beautiful and important. It's also gut wrenching.
We were able to visit the USS Arizona. Standing in the memorial I watched people snap pictures and exclaim over the bits of the ship still visible in the water. All I could think was we are standing on the grave of almost 2000 teenagers. Those poor babies and their poor families.
We left the memorial, a little more knowledgeable, and a lot more solemn.
We headed back to the ship to grab lunch and maybe a quick nap.
After eating, a couple members of our party wanted to go back out. This led all of us to manning up and donning our swimsuits.
We ordered a lyft and headed to Waikiki. Alexis wanted to stop at the Lego store for some mini figures and Becca headed across the street to the famous beach.
I did pause to snap a picture of this mosaic in the mall. Look at that beautiful chicken! After our quick stop at the worlds largest outdoor mall to visit the Lego store, the rest of us crossed the street and ended up here.
The beach and park were stunning. I'm used to parks being along rivers or maybe even a pond. My Idaho brain found it almost implausible that a public park was along the beach!
We did a little swimming, but the beach was rocky and the sand a little rough. The further out into the water, though, the smoother the sand, and you could wade out forever before the water got deep. We had a lot of fun just swimming and reading.
I, of course, took more pictures of plant life. Banyan trees are amazing!
And of course, more chickens. There aren't as many chickens in Honolulu as we saw on the other islands, but there were still around.
After heading back to the ship to rinse off the beach, we walked down to a luau that we had purchased tickets for.
We made leis and leaf head bands, played with rhythm instruments, learned a couple dance steps, and then we ate. The food was amazing. The fruit was tender, the roll was soft (and also purple inside), and the dessert was amazing. We ate our fill and then sat back and watched the show.
It was very hard to get good pictures of the show, but it was beautiful. Watching professionals hula is amazing, add a Hawaiian sunset in the background, and you have an ideal evening.
The show ended with a fire dance, and we slowly headed back to the ship. We were exhausted, but happy.
We found two little ducks hiding in a stairwell on our way to our room, and Alexis set them out so a child could find them.
We then crawled into our ever-loving chicken filled beds and slept the sleep of the exhausted.
No comments:
Post a Comment