You have to learn to hula to burn off the calories...

It's about 8:30 in the morning here, and I've finally got a few minutes to post some pictures. Yesterday we went to Pearl Harbor and saw the USS Arizona memorial. I'd read different opinions about how to approach this site -- some people said, "you HAVE to show up at 7 am, as soon as they open! Otherwise you'll be waiting in line for hours!" Whereas other people said, "Don't go as soon as they open! Everyone shows up at 7 am!" We opted for the late-morning arrival. We got there at about 11:30 and had to wait an hour for our tour. Everyone who shows up is assigned a tour number, and when your tour number is called, you congregate in a small theater and watch a short film about what happened at Pearl Harbor. And then when it's finished, you file out to a boat that takes you to the memorial. And interestingly enough, when we returned from the memorial, we noticed that the visitor's center was much less crowded. Looks like lunch time is actually the best time to show up...

We ate at a great restaurant at the hotel the other night called Azul -- and it wasn't just the food that made it well-worth visiting. It was also because when I ordered a pomegranate martini, the waitress asked to see my ID. And when everyone at the table laughed and said, "you just made HER day..." the waitress said, "well, I'm sure she's not 30 yet..." And of course she's right... :)

Well, now it's 4:30 and we just got back from spending the day in Waikiki. After visiting the city, I'm glad we're staying at this hotel -- it feels a little more like "Hawaii" and less like a big city. Waikiki was nice for a day, but the beaches are crowded with tons of people and it's noisy and busy. Staying a few miles outside the city is quieter and much less crowded. We ate lunch at a place called Duke's on the Beach, which I'd heard about a million people say we HAD to visit. And at first, I wasn't really sure why -- the food was okay, but nothing remarkable. And the view was similar to any other restaurant you'd find on the beach in Hawaii. But then we ordered the Hula Pie for dessert -- a giant slice of macadamia nut ice cream on an Oreo cookie crust, covered with hot fudge, macadamia nuts and whipped cream. The Hula Pie alone would convince me to visit Duke's again some day...

A few random pictures from the last few days:

Fish in the koi pond at the hotel -- every time you approach them, they gather at the edge with their mouths open. I guess they're used to the hotel guests feeding them...

Ocean along the highway...

Waterfall outside of hotel...

Entrance to USS Arizona memorial...

Flag through the ceiling of memorial...

The remains of the Arizona -- the round part is what's left of one of the gun turrets...

Oil on the surface of the water -- they think there are still about five hundred thousand gallons of oil left in the Arizona, and around two quarts of it leak out into the water every day...

Names of the men who died...

Another part of the ship...

Duke's on the Beach...

Mmmmmm... Hula Pie...