Day three of our Hawaii trip! We got up that morning and headed out at 9 am to Pearl City to go to see Pearl Harbor. I have to admit, this is a very touristy thing to do. But Pearl Harbor is one of the most historically significant events in the history of the United States.
If you don’t know much about Pearl Harbor, I will briefly explain what happened and why it has been so important to our history. The attack on Pearl Harbor began on the island of Oahu early in the morning on December 7, 1941 by the Japanese Imperial navy. Pearl Harbor was attacked with over 350 airplanes carrying bombs and torpedoes that eventually sank four and damaged four U.S. Battleships. When the attack began, most of the soldiers actually thought that it was a drill. The attack was such a huge surprise not only to the soldiers stationed on Oahu but to everyone in America. The attack on Pearl Harbor marked the entry of the United States into World War II where we declared war on Japan.
My husband and I got to Pearl Harbor around 9:30 am, but our tour wasn’t until 1:00 pm that afternoon. There were lots of people there that morning! So, this left us with a lot of time to walk around many of the interesting Pearl Harbor museums before we took our tour of one of the sunken battleships, the U.S.S Arizona, which still remains underwater at Pearl Harbor. But more about the U.S.S Arizona later.
 |
| Torpedo on the USS Bowfin |
The first tour we went on was the submarine, the U.S.S Bowfin. It was neat to walk through the Bowfin. It was remarkably small inside and I can’t believe that soldiers lived in there for weeks at a time. Every time I went through a doorway, I had to duck and I’m short! I can’t imagine how it must have felt to be a tall guy walking though the submarine hallways. All of the bunks were stacked one on top of the other with only about 3 feet of space in each bedroom to move around. It was cool to be able to see the torpedo tubes and look up the periscope. Once we finished the tour of the inside of the submarine, we headed for the deck. On top of the deck was a massive anti-aircraft gun. If you look down the barrel of the gun, you see a proud and waving American flag at the end of the deck. Simply amazing.
 |
| Part of the sunken ship USS Arizona |
 |
| Part of the sunken ship USS Arizona |
 |
| View up from the Arizona Memorial |
After we left the memorial of Pearl Harbor, we headed back to the house. We were excited for the cookout that night. The cookout was to welcome back our friends Steve and Supriya who were arriving from the mainland that afternoon and to say goodbye to several friends of pastor Frank who had been staying with him.
 |
| Me and Supriya |
 |
| My handsome husband at the cookout |
The food at this cookout was amazing! This was my first of my many experiences eating poke (pr. Poe-kay)! Poke is amazing. It is raw Ahi Tuna covered in various spices and herbs. My favorite poke was Wasabi Poke that was topped with rho. If you love sushi, you would love poke! We also got to try and traditional Hawaiian dish called Pipi Kaula (pee-pee-ka-oo-la). Pipi kaula is a beef dish that is marinated in vinegar and onions. It has a jerky like consistency and has a very strong and savory flavor. I loved pipi kaula and ate so much of it! I had such a great time at this cookout, meeting everyone at the church and kicking the soccer ball around!
 |
| Poke! |
 |
| Pipi Kaula |
Stay tuned for day 4 and beach pictures!!
