Pearl Harbor

Final Hawaii posting! It's only taken 2 1/2 weeks to complete...not too much else going on here though so it gives me something to blog about.

We scheduled a Pearl Harbor tour the day before we left Hawaii. Unfortunately the night before the tour, mom was up the whole night throwing up. In the morning she didn't feel much better so she decided to stay in the room and rest.

I met a nice couple from Florida in my hotel lobby while we were waiting for the bus to arrive. We made a few stops at other hotels which took a while because the driver didn't seem to know where he was going. We then got on a larger bus with a new driver who said our first bus driver was new and very, very slow.

Our bus driver was very detailed and knowledgeable. He told us that he is entering the seminary soon seemed to know a lot about the Catholic churches and history of Hawaii.

Our first stop was Hawaii capital building. The statue in front of city hall is of Father Damien is considered a hero of Hawaii for administering the Catholic faith through caring for people with leprosy. He built homes, churches, coffins and arranged for medical service for people with leprosy in Hawaii. Father Damien later contracted the disease and died. Having a religious statue in from of the capital building was and is a huge controversy,

Our next stop was city hall. The statue in front of city hall is King Kamehameha who is famous for unifying the Hawaiian islands under one rule in the late 1700's.

Next, we arrived at Punchbowl Memorial, a burial place for those who perished during the attack on Pearl Harbor.

Beautiful, bright flowers displayed at the entryway of the memorial.

We were not able to get out of the bus but drove through the memorial grounds. The memorial was built into Pu'owaina crater which is means Hill of Sacrifice.

The memorial grave sites total more than 33,000 including soldiers, their families and casualties.

This detailed Lady Columbia statue overlooks the memorial grounds. Lady Columbia is a symbol of despairing mothers of those who perished at Pearl Harbor. The phrase "The Solemn Pride That Must Be Yours To Have Laid So Costly a Sacrifice Upon the Altar of Freedom" is carved along the bottom of the statue. It was a very sobering and touching place to visit.

Our final stop was the visiting Pearl Harbor and the USS Arizona Memorial, where 1,177 crewmen lost their lives. The memorial had been closed for two weeks for construction and opened up Friday, the day before we left Hawaii. The tickets we got were the first tickets since re-opening, we were told that because of such a large crowd, we were lucky to get tickets (good thing we booked ahead of time).

This memorial structure commemorates all military killed during the attack on Pearl Harbor. The United States flag on the memorial flies from a flagpole, which is attached to the severed mainmast of the sunken battleship Arizona.

Contemplation Circle is the area you wait in before boarding the ship that takes you to the memorial site.

After a 3 minute boat ride, we arrived to the memorial, a 184-foot long structure that spans the mid-portion of the sunken battleship Arizona. Another sobering environment.

The first section is an entry and assembly room.

The next section is an observation area.

The last section is the shrine room, where the names of those killed on the Arizona are engraved on a marble wall.

In the observation section, this map of the Arizona is displayed. It shows what the ship looked like before it sunk and the remaining remnants of the ship today.

Oil leaks are still clearly visible on the surface of the water. The Arizona still leaks about a quart of oil into the harbor each day.

After 15 minutes browsing the memorial, I took a boat ride back to the museum area.

Before watching a short video on the attack on Pearl Harbor, I walked around the USS Bowfin which is permanently home ported at Pearl Harbor.

I thought this picture was neat because it shows the battleships that were destroyed during the Pearl Harbor attack; Nevada, Tennessee, Arizona, Oklahoma and Pennsylvania.

Original USS Arizona Anchor

This concludes my Pearl Harbor visit and completes my trip to Hawaii. My flight from Hawaii to Tokyo went well, had an aisle seat with an empty seat next to me! I had to recheck my luggage during my layover in Tokyo but only had two hours, just enough time to grab a fruit platter and board myl flight to Okinawa. Now, my next trip to the airport will be when I depart Okinawa permanently. I've spent a lot of time at different airports this past year!

Last week was a long week with testing everyday. The school doesn't get the testing results until September so I won't get to see how my students performed. The talent show went well on Friday night. We had students playing the drums, dancing, playing the piano and singing. Last Saturday Kathi signed me on base to go shopping at the commissary. I was able to get a decent amount of food, most of which should last me until I leave here next month. After shopping, I went with Kathi to watch her 10 year old daughter's basketball game on base. It was a close game, I really enjoyed watching!

This has been a festive week at school, dressing up in different themes each day for spirit week. Pictures to come after the week is completed tomorrow. Tomorrow is Friday and we will be down to less than 5 weeks in the school year. Not much planned for the weekend other than going on base for church. The weather is back to being humid and it will probably stay this way. I've still been enjoying my daily workouts, walking up and down the hills and stairs near my apartment, might have to adjust according to this humidity.

Happy Cinco de Mayo!

XOXO

Kristen