Tuesday, May 4, 2010

Welcome To Paradise- Part Two

I promised more, so here we go!

From the Pearl Harbor Memorial, Honolulu(O'ahu), HI.

A plaque telling of the losses the USA suffered.



The USS Bowfin.(In the distance is the USS Arizona Memorial and Ford Island.)



Plaques depicting every day life for the soldiers pre-attack line the grounds of the Pearl Harbor Memorial. I thought this one was really interesting.

My favorite picture. I took this from the middle of the USS Arizona Memorial. It was an awesome sight to see up close.

Front view of the USS Missouri. It was not in the Pearl Harbor attack, but stands protecting the memorials. It had not been commissioned yet. See the white buoy? That is the marker of where the bow of the USS Arizona lies.

The State Flags of all the ships lost during the attacks.

A map of O'ahu Island and all the historic sights. Directly through the middle of the island is where the 300 Japanese planes flew through to surprise attack.(Ignore the hand. That lady wouldn't move out of my way for beans! lol)
Here is a pic of the valley depicted above. I took this from the ferry boat headed out to the USS Arizona. The bridge connects Ford Island to O'ahu. It's held up using a pontoon system. Only military personnel and families living on the island can use the bridge. A tour bus takes people to the USS Missouri, but visitors can only get out where the ship is docked.

Signs like this covered a work area where construction was being done to expand the Pearl Harbor Memorial site. This is a pic of the USS Arizona.

I couldn't pass up this tree! I wish it would grow in my boiling pot of a valley.

At this point, the pictures are from Hickman Air Force Base. With Kim being a retired vet and married to an active military man, my hubby and I were able to see the sights of the base few civilians ever do.

Hickman Air Field Hangar. To the backside of this building is the flag pole and the HQ.

The flag pole stands in the same place it did when the attack occurred. The Japanese targeted it, but never managed to hit Old Glory. The headquarters (below) looks out toward the flag pole and to the air field (Hangar) beyond.

This is the old headquarters building. I was fascinated with the sirens (the little black dots on the roof). I wished my camera had a better zoom, so I could get an up close pic of it.

Here is one of the original buildings which still sports the bullet holes.

From this vantage point, we're looking out at the mouth of canal. Behind us is the flag/air planes scene below.



Just beyond the fish, this little shelf dropped off to about 30-40ft deep. These little guys were below the breaker wall to the right of the planes.

These Hibiscus bushes are every where on O'ahu!

The old church at Historic Fort Kamehameha (still part of HAFB).

Hospital Point where the USS Nevada was run aground by her Master Commander, so the ailing ship wouldn't block entry to Pearl Harbor.

The marker in front of the USS Utah.

The USS Utah Memorial. 54 souls went down with this ship and the urn of an infant. The father was taking her ashes to bury at sea, but never got the chance due to the attack. The infant had been born a twin and the surviving sister visits every Thanksgiving and brings flowers. When she passes away, she has requested the Navy to place her urn in the wreckage so that she may rest eternally with the sister she never knew.

Another view of the USS Utah.

One of the original buildings.

Old Air Tower on Ford Island.

The USS Oklahoma Memorial. Each of the white pillars represents a soldier who was lost that day.

The USS Missouri berthed at Ford Island. The earlier pic was taken facing her bow as seen from the USS Arizona Memorial.

Sunset over Waikiki from the beach in front of our hotel.

Hubs and I headed out toward the North Shore and made a stop at the Dole Plantation.

Dole Pineapples being harvested.

Pineapples grow on bushes?! lol

The dirt is red from the oxidizing volcanic rock. Pineapple bushes in background.


Looking out over the North side of O'ahu from Pali Point.

Sunrise over Honolulu the day we left. I miss these sights the most!
Well, I came close to showing you all 654 pics! LOL I hope you enjoyed my mini-tour of the island. I took these pics with the idea of posting them to share. I had such a good time and thanks to Kim got to see some majestic historical sights.

Swing by this Friday for a guest blog by the fabulous BETH KERY. She's dishing about her recent trip to RT!! Too fun! Enjoy the rest of your week, TLN'ers!!

11 comments:

Paige Ryter said...

How cool is this!!! I'm not good at history, but this really makes me pause in reverence to those who lost their lives. And the twin...wow.

So why did they put 'smooth cayenne Hawaii' on that pineapple? Did you ever find out?

Thank you so much for sharing...I had to read it all, even with limited time. So tell your husband I enjoyed it!!! It's well worth sharing all your pictures!

mowriter said...

Thanks for the mini tour, Sarah. It's still hard to look at those hulks in the water without weeping.
And tell your hubs there are never enough pics of something like this. LOL
Dale Thompson

Maryannwrites said...

Wonderful pictures, Sarah, and thanks for the reminder of our trip to HI. Visiting the memorial was one of the most moving experiences of my life. I stood next to a Japanese woman who was throwing flower petals into the sea. She did not speak English, but her granddaughter did. I asked the granddaughter to thank her grandma for the kind gesture. It was a moment of acknowledgment and forgiveness. Very powerful experience and I get misty-eyed just thinking about it again.

Debra Kayn said...

Spectacular pictures. I can't imagine being there in person and the emotions that one goes through. Humbling and fascinating at the same time. Thank you for sharing.

Kaye Manro said...

What great pics, Sarah! I would love to do what you did! We can all live through your experiences!

Martha Eskuchen said...

You did a great job with the pics Sarah and thanks for sharing all of them with us! It is good to be reminded now and again by the memorials.
We grow our own little pineapple plants from the cut pineapple tops. Do they call them bushes rather than plants?

Micole Black said...

What amazing pictures Sarah!!! thank you so much for sharing them. My grandfather was stationed in Hawaii when pearl harbor was attacked and my grandmother was a nurse on the island taking care of all of those brave men! I got all teary eyed when scrolling through the pics! thansk again for sharing!

Hugs

Micole

DanielleThorne said...

Sarah, thank you for posting the pictures and the descriptions. You are awesome--and it looked like an amazing trip. I really appreciate the virtual tour! And you sat by a Project Runway contestant on the plane? How cool is that!? Love that show!

Sarah Simas said...

I'm so glad ya'll liked my pics! It took forever to load these up. Sheesh! I was very happy with the quality of the pic though. lol My mom may not get that camera back. :)

Hi Paige!, I asked My Hubby- aka Mr. Produce lol, and he said that is just a varietal name. In the garden there at the Dole Plantation they had beds of each variety. Some of them were red!

Mowriter, nice to see you here! It was very emotional hearing the stories and seeing the ships. When the Park Ranger reffered to the infant being guarded by the 54 soldiers she was entombed with really choked me up.

Hi Maryann, one of the sights that stuck in my head was an elderly man being wheeled around by a naval officer in dress whites. The older gent was wearing his vet's hat. I didn't get close enough to see if he was a survivor, but it was still an awesome sight. I wished I would have asked for a pic.

Hiya Debra and Kaye! When I was snapping the pics I knew I'd be sharing them on my blog, so if something looked interesting I clicked away. Who knows when I'll be back there, so I wanted lots of memory reminders. :)

Howdy Martha!, I asked hubs and he says bushes. I googled and got answers claiming it was both a bush and a plant. LOL The one thing I did learn was that it's the only bromeliad to produce fruit. That was pretty cool to find out! Too cool you grow you own! I bet they taste awesome fresh!

Micole :), That is so cool that both your GP's were over there. I bet they have some really interesting stories. I know my hubs said his great uncle was born there and during the time of the attack, his dad, who was also stationed there, ran down to the base during the attacks. For seven days his family didn't know if he was alive or dead. Such awesome but gut-wrenching history, huh?

Heya Danielle!, Jay was super nice. He was really worried about the public's attitude toward him. I didn't have much advice to that since I ain't that famous. LOL But I did quote Charlotte's Web (the movie) and told him to "Chin UP!" LOL He probably thought I was nutts!

Kim in Baltimore said...

Sarah, it was my privilege and pleasure to share Hawaii with you!

I offer my tour guide services to any romance reader who comes to Oahu! If you come this far, consider flying over to the other islands (I can also advise you about where to stay and what to visit). The best guidebook is the "Revealed" series from Wizard Publishing:

http://www.wizardpub.com/main/home.html

I also write about Hawaiian culture on my blogsite,

http://www.sosaloha.blogspot.com/

SOS is a military charity sponsored by Kathryn Falk, CEO of Romantic Times. I spotlight romance reading, military issues, international holidays, and Hawaii!

Mahalo,

Kim in Hawaii
sos.america@yahoo.com

Carol North said...

Hi Sarah:
Those are beautiful pics. Thanks for posting them. When I visited Hawaii we didn't make it to Pearle Harbor, so I spent a lot of time looking at those. The sunset, sunrise pics are breathtaking.