Pearl Harbor - Day 20

Tuesday, July 1

This morning we got up early again to go to Pearl Harbor. We had heard that if you are in the standby line at 7AM there is a good chance of getting to ride the boat over to the U.S.S. Arizona Memorial (the reservations for which sell out months ahead of time). So that’s what we did. We looked at the exhibits while we waited to see if we would get a text back saying we could board the boat. 

Desmond got his Jr. Ranger packet and started working on it as we explored the exhibits. 

Bryan got the awaited text message and we made our way over to the line for the boat. We were ushered into the theater for a brief talk covering rules and regulations so that we knew what to expect as we crossed the water in this active military base, and visited the memorial atop the sunken ship. 

The memorial is well done. You can look at the ship beneath the water, and read the names of those who died. There are a lot of names, and the knowledge that the deceased were entombed in the wreckage below us was sobering. 

We saw colorful fish swimming in the water near the sunken ship, and talked quietly about how sunken ships can become coral reefs in time. This seemed to be a comfort to Desmond, who had expressed that this place was “too sad” and that he wanted to go.

I was actually relieved to hear that was his take on the place.  I had seen some people taking smiling selfies, and felt that they had perhaps missed the point. Bryan confirmed with Desmond that it was a sad place, and assured him that that was okay. That that is what a “memorial” is all about.  A place of remembrance for something sad.

Soon the boat had returned with a new load of people, and we took the ride back to shore. As we did the U.S.S. Cincinnati sailed past us, the navy crewmen up top on deck saluting the memorial as they passed. This ship has a really interesting design, with two open spaces all the way through front to back, reminding me of a catamaran with a slender ship suspended in the middle. When Desmond saw it from the boat he said “this is better than the rides at Disneyland!”

While we took a few more photos, we noticed some colorful birds and I pulled out my Merlin app to help ID them. They were the Red Crested Cardinal (only the head is red - it’s very distinctive) and the Common Myna (with yellow around its eyes.) I continue to enjoy using this app while we travel to know what birds I am looking at. 

After some cold drinks we headed across the way to do the Bowfin submarine tour and museum.  An audio tour was included in the price of admission. It was triggered by different locations as you moved throughout the submarine. It was really slick!

The submarine tour was interesting. We always seem to have fun walking through a submarine and hearing about what life would be like serving on one. Desmond thought he would like to work on a submarine when he grows up.  

Desmond also spotted a turtle swimming towards (and then under) the submarine while we up on top and could see into the water. 

Then we did the submarine museum. Desmond’s attention-span for this outlasted Bryan, myself and Dad. We were sitting and waiting for him when he got done. We asked if he wanted to go tour a battleship next and his whole face lit up.

By the way, if you plan to go to the Pearl Harbor site, know that each of these is a separate cost.  Good news if one sounds more interesting than the others, but expensive news if, like us, you want to do the whole thing. 😆

We rode the bus over to the U.S.S. Missouri, and bought our tour tickets. Learning that a guided tour is included in the price of our tickets, we waited for the tour to start.  The guide came over and warned us a few times that she had a terrible sense of humor, and then moved on to warn each other group the same thing.

When the tour started, I could barely understand what she was saying because of a soft, sing-song voice she was using that wasn’t well enunciated. She recited her spiel in a memorized fashion, with hand motions that reminded me either of a flight attendant doing their safety instructions, or of Matt Newport’s character in The Play That Goes Wrong, who used hand motions to memorize his lines. 

Then she would frequently stop and say “Scootchie scootchie” until we were all crowded around her, wasting time that could have been spend on giving info or telling stories about the ship.

We hung in there for a couple of stations on her tour, and then moseyed away.   I don’t think I have ever left a guided tour in the middle before, but it was for the best.  The ship was vast and even at a quicker pace, it was well past noon before we were done exploring it.  

The thing that we really kept noticing was how much more room there was on this battleship compared to the sub we had toured earlier in the day.  It was a huge difference!  This ship even had a donut shop, and two dentists!

When we were done with our self-guided tour of the U.S.S. Missouri, we rejoined my dad at a picnic table nearby, and grabbed some lunch.  Corn dogs, chicken strips and fries were what we ended up with.  The food tasted good.  We were hungry!  And we all got big softdrinks with lots of ice.  Feeling refreshed, we boarded the shuttle bus again and rode over to the aviation museum.

Bryan looked excited after we got our wristbands and entered the museum.  He started pointing out the different planes, telling us what their names were, and their strengths and witnesses.  We toured both hangers and the outside area in between.  

The highlight was a jet that Bryan has flown in his flight simulator being available to climb into the cockpit. We lined up and took turns climbing in and getting our pictures taken.  While Bryan was sitting in the cockpit he got a grin on his face and told me he thought he could definitely start that thing up if he wanted to.  All the buttons were where he expected them to be from his flight simulator. 

After that we folded paper airplanes and attempted to land them on an area taped off on a nearby table to represent an aircraft carrier.  This was more fun (and tricky!) than anticipated!

We rode the shuttle bus back to the main site.  Then Desmond went and got sworn in as a Junior Ranger and got his badge. Then we called a Lyft and returned back to the Air B&B for a rest.

I, for one, enjoyed my little nap.  Then it was Desmond’s choice of what to eat, and he picked Panda Express.  We walked down to the food court and had Panda.  After that we came back to our Air B&B and lounged around doing screen time, and getting caught up on the blog.

We also tried to eat/drink the groceries that we won’t be able to take with us on the plane tomorrow so that we don’t have to waste them.

Want to keep Traveling with the Schmidts? Read Day 21