Hawaii Vacation-Sept 21-Oahu Day 2-Sightseeing

We didn't finish touring Pearl Harbor until about 3:30 that day, so we had to get back on the road and fit in as much sightseeing before dark. Thanks to Daniel, Lane's GPS, we managed to drive to the eastern part of the island to see a couple of beautiful lookout points, Haloma Blowhole on the coast, and the Pali Road and Lookout point. Both were really beautiful.

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And, most importantly, it was finally my turn to get to drive the convertible! That was lots of fun, too!

I always look so mad when I don't have any expression on my face!

This was a really pretty stretch of road near the blowhole.

The viewing place to see the blowhole overlooked this beautiful little bay. We had hoped to come back here and do some snorkeling, but we ran out of time. So sad!

Off to the other side was a nice beach in the distance.

Here's the blowhole! They said that at high tide during the winter months, the waves will crash with so much force that the water will be sucked in and blown out up to 50 ft. high. We definitely didn't get to see anything like that. You can see the blowhole near the bottom left part of the next picture. It was kinda a letdown after all we had read about it, but it was still neat to see, and the beautiful scenery around it definitely made it worth the trip.

Then, we headed back inland to see the Pali Lookout, a cliff that overlooked a huge valley below and also had a great view of the ocean to the east. It was so pretty. It also was the sight of a significant battle which ultimately led to the unification of all of the Hawaiian islands under the rule of one king. Supposedly, 400 warriors were forced off the cliff's edge during that battle!

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All of the mountains in Oahu are so unique and have these jagged, steep peaks.

Here's the overlook

Way down there is a tunnel in the road. Later on that day, we drove through it and got some pictures.

And, here's the tunnel.

Just some pretty trees

As we returned to town, we stopped at the Ala Moana Shopping Mall, which had tons and tons of restaurants to choose from, and we finally decided on Islands Fine Burgers. I got a blue cheese burger, and it was so good! We had just a great first full day in Oahu.

Hawaii Vacation-Sept 21-Oahu Day 2-USS Missouri Battleship

Our last stop on our tour of Pearl Harbor was the Battleship USS Missouri. I had never toured a battleship before, and it was so massive! Lane and I really enjoyed this tour and probably spent most of our time here that day. This was the battleship where the Japanese surrendered to the Allied Forces in 1945. I know that a lot of these pictures may be uninteresting to some, but I wanted to make sure to include as many of the details in my posts, so that we will be able to look back some day and remember it better.

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As we approached the battleship

I just couldn't get over how big these guns are - they said that a shell shot from one of them could go as far as 23 miles!

A view back toward the Arizona Memorial

After we looked around the deck for a while, we headed into the ship to see the inside.

The next few photos are of the officers' quarters.

Officers' dining

In this area, they had an exhibit with lots of interesting World War II items, pictures, quotes, charts and stats. I took pictures of the things that were the most interesting to me.

The computer room - you can definitely tell that it's been a while since this ship has been on active duty.

The crew's sleeping quarters

A nice little game table.

Not really a great picture, but I liked the tile design.

The next few pictures are of the crew's dining area and kitchens. There were several different kitchens for all of the different areas of food prep, and they were all huge!

Chief Petty Officers' lounge and dining

The ship's library

I don't remember what this is, but it sure looks important!

Another view of the Arizona

The navigation room

This was one of the most heavily fortified areas of the ship, we think. The steering wheel.

There were no windows in this room, and look how thick the door is!

The next few pictures are from the Surrender Deck. We got to look into the Captain's Quarters here, and also got to view the Surrender Document on the spot where it was signed.

There was a group of soldiers touring the ship that day, too, and I thought this was a great picture to take as we were leaving the ship.

Across from the ship is the USS Oklahoma Memorial. The Missouri is docked in the same location that the Oklahoma was docked on the day of the attack, so the memorial is closeby.