Sky Watch Friday

I finally decided to do one of these! These photos are a couple of years old from when I took my first and only trip so far to Hawaii.

OAHU, HAWAII - Pearl Harbor

Visiting Pearl Harbor was a soulful, solemn experiences I will never forget. The USS Arizon Memorial is set upon one of the sunken ships where over 1,000 men were entombed when Japan attacked Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941. There are parts of the ship that you can still see above water and you can see parts of the ship below the water. Looking at the wall of names... well, that was a lot of lost lives. It is difficult not to be touched as you stand giving honor to those who lost their lives fighting for our country.

This picture shows part of the ship that is above water while the one I will post below, if you look closely, shows part of the ship that can be seen beneath the water. I don't know that anyone can stand above this ship, think about the thousand men that were unable to escape below your feet, and not be moved.

Around the harbor and not pictured here are markers of the other ships that sank that day.



This is a bit of information received from the USS Arizona Memorial website:

There were 1.4 million gallons of fuel on the USS Arizona when she sank. Over 60 years later, approximately two quarts a day still surfaces from the ship. Pearl Harbor survivors refer to the oil droplets as "Black Tears."

I also found this bit of information from Wikipedia:


The battleship "USS Arizona" was hit with an armor piercing bomb which penetrated the forward ammunition compartment, blowing the ship apart and sinking it within seconds. Overall, nine ships of the U.S. Pacific fleet were sunk and twenty-one ships were severely damaged. Three of the twenty-one would be unrepairable. The overall death toll reached 2,350, including 68 civilians, and 1,178 injured. Of the military personnel lost at Pearl Harbor, 1,177 were from the Arizona. The following day, President Franklin Delano Roosevelt declared Dec. 7, 1941, "a date which will live in infamy."

OAHU, HAWAII - Polynesian Cultural Center

A few years ago I had the opportunity to go to Hawaii. It was only for the weekend but I had a great time and would love to go again. We stayed at the Hilton Hawaiian Village Resort which was like a little city unto itself. I swear, you didn't have to leave the hotel. It consisted of three towers and inbetween them was an entire shopping center, resaurants, the beach and anything you could hope for.

We did manage to leave the hotel and got to visit the Polynesian Cultural Center and Pearl Harbor. I will never forget either place. Nor will I forget the drive along the coast to the cultural center.

POLYNESIAN CULTURAL CENTER


The Polynesian Cultural Center was phenomenal and I wish we had been able to see more of it. It is separated into eight small villages that represents different cultures of the South Pacific. You visit each village and learn about the culture in a show setting.

It's all so lush and beautiful and after you've learned about all of the different cultures there is a parade on water presented my members of each of the different cultures.



I wish I could display all of the pictures I took but hope these are giving you an idea of how colorful and entertaining the parade was.





If you haven't been to Hawaii please go. If you think you can't afford it, just start saving a little money and plan to go. It will be so worth it. Did I mention the airport was as charming as the island.