Hawai'i, Part 5: Pearl Harbor

My honeymoon posting has lapsed a bit, but I am spurred on by an email from Sarah.

Our first day back from the Big Island, we totally relaxed, and that was very nice. The second day, Tuesday, we drove to Pearl Harbor for a wonderful experience in history. Visiting Pearl Harbor was not so much about excitement as embracing our country's history and fully realizing the impact that the tragedy of December 7, 1941 had on the world.

Now when I say it wasn't about excitement, that's mostly because I, personally, do not get excited usually about military-related things and battleships and such. Some do; I think Erich does. In any case, I really enjoyed myself and learned a lot, and for good reason, Pearl Harbor is ALWAYS. ExTREMEly. Crowded. September/October is the slow season for tourism in Hawai'i in general, but the U.S.S. Arizona Memorial is always packed. We got there mid-morning and had to wait more than two hours before we were able to take the boat over to the memorial itself. In the meantime, we toured the U.S.S. Bowfin, a submarine from WWII and a submarine museum. Afterward, we toured the U.S.S. Missouri, the battleship that helped to avenge the Arizona. I'll try not to inform much further, lest I reveal how paltry my knowledge of history really is. Let's get on to the pictures (it's hard to pick from so many!):

Here's the USS Bowfin.

Torpedoes!

This was the most spacious sleeping quarters. Holy cow.

This is way bigger than the stand mixer we just got with wedding gift cards.

Can you imagine this being a normal day?

Same memo from above with other pleasant mealtime "reading" material.

Doorway. Can't tell how small it is?

Here's Erich going through the doorway.

He was so tan!

Rockin' the audio tour.

How cool am I? I'm so cool, I got a photo of the view through the periscope.

One-man Japanese suicide torpedo. Chilling.

The main courtyard, where we waited to catch the boat to the memorial.

Approaching the USS Arizona Memorial. The smaller white structures mark sites of other sunk ships.

66 years later, oil from the ship still leaks up to the surface.

The ship isn't even fully submerged, but that fact didn't stop the ship from becoming a coffin for almost 1200 people. Silence was observed in the memorial out of respect for the dead.

One of them was a Keller.

It's a beautiful memorial.

On the "Mighty Mo'":


That is one large vessel.

And now I close with some girly flowers and rainbows: