la vie en rose

Wednesday was our day to explore the island. J's dad rented a car and his brother took the day off of school.

Side story here: I hate Crocs. I'm sorry if you love them. I think they look like platypus feet. They look cute on little kids, but just about anything in miniature is cute. Crocs should not be worn around town - they serve a purpose, just like sweats. While I'm at it, don't wear sweats in public, either. Anywho, on Tuesday we were waiting at the bus stop and this Japanese girl walked by in the cutest green dress and black flats, and holy crap, they were Crocs. Cut to later that evening and my feet were killing me from my sandals. J suggested we look around for some better walking shoes. I said, "If I could find those black flats like that girl was wearing, I would actually part with some hard-earned cash for a pair of Crocs (the horror!)." So on Wednesday morning, J's dad and brother picked us up and took us to Ala Moana Shopping Center and I bought a pair of Crocs - they're red Mary Janes and they're comfortable and still very cute. I know, I was as shocked as you are. But this goes to show that you can be comfy and not have to look like a schlub.

I know several 15 year olds, and while I think that some of them would be stoked to take a day off of school and go to Pearl Harbor, I'm not sure if J's brother is one of those 15 year olds. But that's where we went, and I appreciate his (as well as J's and his dad's) patience and forbearance as I could barely contain myself with how excited I was to see this memorial.

I have always loved history and all things historical (except for those strange "yellow" periods, as TF is well aware), but it was as a 15 year old in Mrs. Seipp's Honors Humanities class that that love was cemented (but that's a story for another entry). One thing I will mention is a particular instance when I was studying at Ashleigh's house for a test on WWII and we both told each other that WWII was our favorite war. I don't mean to sound like I'm taking any aspect of any war lightly, especially the tragedies of WWII; merely that WWII absolutely captivates my attention. I try to understand the physical, emotional, social, political hugeness of that era as best I can. So going to Pearl Harbor, the genesis of the American conflict, was essentially like going to Mecca.

I rented the headset (narrated by Ernest Borgnine of all people! (See From Here to Eternity)), but I won't go into all the minutiae, as this isn't a history lesson. Read more about the events of Pearl Harbor here.

The 1st thing you do when you arrive is walk through the visitor's center as you wait for your # to be called for the movie.

The ship's anchor is at the entrance to the visitor's center.

A mural of the USS Arizona.

The USS Missouri, to get some perspective (it's 3 football fields long!).

Two exhibits stuck out to me:

On all the ships there were bands, and on December 6th there had been a competition. The band of the USS Arizona placed second. The next morning every single band member was killed. The winners decided to give them the trophy posthumously.
One survivor comes to the memorial every year and places two carnations into the water - one for his fallen comrades and one for the Japanese pilot who had dropped the bomb. I was struck by the stories of friendship that developed between some of the survivors and the attackers - respect and forgiveness, things the world needs more of, I think.

After the movie we boarded the boat for the actual memorial. The platform on the right is where the ship was docked (there are several, for all the ships that were sunk that day). The memorial droops in the middle, signifying the great burden and sadness of it all.

An aerial view (obviously I did not take this picture, but it's cool).

1177 men died in the USS Arizona, and the remains of almost all of them still lie with the ship. There are 36 sets of brothers on this list.

Kindof spooky - you don't really notice some parts until all of the sudden the light hits them and they seem to rise up out of the water.

On average, 1 quart of oil leaks from the ship every day, but there are no plans to drain it. Survivors say that it is the blood still seeping out and it won't stop until the last one has died.

Life manages to grow.

After Pearl Harbor we drove up to the North Shore. We had mentioned before how we were big Lost fans, and J's brother happened to know where some of the filming locations were. To the other Losties out there, does this look familiar?

Could it be...the Island? How about this?

The beach where Desmond washed up and many a fight has occurred. Or maybe this looks familiar?

The Others' village! It's a YMCA camp. Don't worry, the fence was deactivated and the smoke monster was off terrorizing someone else.

We continued our drive along the North Shore and ended up at in a little town called Haleiwa at a little place called Matsumoto's Shave Ice.

Whoa. This stuff is awesome! Three tropical flavors of shave ice on top of ice cream. A treat of truly monumental greatness.

J's dad took us back to the hotel so we could get ready for our special dinner that night, but that dinner in question deserves a post of its own.