Lauren In London: Hakes in Hawai'i: Oahu

Aloha!

As you have probably noticed, I am not in London any longer. For about the last month I have been home, but now I am on vacation with my family in Hawaii. For the next two weeks we will be in Oahu, Maui, and Kauai. We left the house about six AM on Saturday, and after flying to Minneapolis, then Los Angeles, we flew to Honolulu. It was nearly seventeen hours of travel, and we were very tired when we arrived. But, due to the six hour time difference it was only about seven when arrived at our hotel. I am not a huge fan of beaches and the tropics, but Hawaii is very beautiful. Wanting to stay close to the hotel we ate at the restaurant there that served steak and seafood. At about nine, we called it a night and went to bed.

The next day, after getting a little lost, we made our way to Pearl Harbor. While waiting for the 12:45 tour to the USS Arizona Memorial, we followed the audio guide tour around the memorial. The many exhibits explained about the causes of the attack and how it was carried out. At 12:30 we lined up and waited for the park ranger to let us into the theatre. We entered the theatre and we watched a 30 minute movie about the December 7th attacks. After that we got onto a boat that took us near Ford Island where the memorial is. For about a half an hour we walked around the memorial and looked out at the ocean. Once back we went back to the condo after stopping to buy food for the night. We spent the afternoon by the ocean, reading, snorkeling(in Dad's case), and running(in my case). Now, as we eat sushi we are celebrating Mother's Day. Tomorrow we will get back on a plane and go to Maui.

We saw a rainbow welcoming us to Hawaii as we drove to the condo from the airport.

The sun setting as we arrived to the hotel.

Chuck's where we had dinner later.

The anchor of the USS Arizona

The WWII Valor in the Pacific National Monument. They brought us out there on a boat.

This is a list of all the dead. There are special lists on the bottom left and right where the list of survivors of the attacks that asked to be cremated, then interned in the USS Arizona once they died. The sunken ship is now a reef for fish. Oil is still leaking from the ship and can be seen on the surface sometimes.