Leslie and David's Wanderings: 11-12 April 2024 Honolulu, O’ahu, Hawaii, USA

We were originally supposed to stop at Lahaina, but after the devastating fires last year, they canceled that port of call and doubled the number of days in Honolulu. We pulled into pier 11 in Honolulu in the early morning. On our honeymoon, we had stayed in Honolulu for several days and taken the Pearl Harbor Tour but had missed seeing the Pacific Aviation Museum. So, we picked up a taxi at the port entrance to take us to the Pearl Harbor Visitor Center. Our driver Eric was fun to talk to and we made arrangements with him to pick us up later. We had to put Leslie’s purse into secure storage since only clear bags are allowed into the facility. After getting our tickets we took the shuttle bus to the museum on Ford Island. They had several aircraft, both American and Japanese, for the time of the Pearl Harbor attack. We watched the museum film and toured the aircraft displays. David was surprised to learn there was a couple of things about the attack he did not know before. There was a civilian aircraft flying over the harbor when the first wave attacked. Also, a Japanese plane that was damaged by anti-aircraft fire landed at one of the other Hawaiian Islands where the pilot attacked a native that was helping him resulting in both dying. We then went over to Hanger 57 where they do the restoration work to see the ongoing projects. There are still holes in the windows of the hanger doors from the day of the attack. As we made our way back along the flight line display of modern-day aircraft, it began to rain. So, we headed back to the main building to visit the gift shop before taking the shuttle bus back to the visitor center and called Eric to come pick us up. Turns out he was already out front waiting for us!. We asked Eric to take us to the Punch Bowl, the national cemetery where most of the fatalities of the attack were buried. As we approached the Cemetery, Eric asked if we were there to see a particular grave and we said no. He then explained that he was not allowed to stop in the Cemetery and we were not allowed to walk around the graves unless we were there to see a family members greave and got a pass at the front entrance. Eric drove us around the parameter of the cemetery slowly so we could shoot pictures before heading back to pier 11. After Eric dropped us off, we walked around the pier area, got drinks at an open air bar and then got dinner at “the Old Spaghetti Warehouse”. We enjoyed the dinner since it was actually seasoned well. The ship food is good, but generally bland since they are serving so many different pallets. The second day, after looking at maps on our phones, we decided to walk into town since there was supposed to be a string of restaurants and bars only a half mile away. We were disappointed to find that the walk to this restaurant row was much further and lined with construction projects. We wandered around and eventually found a bar featuring locally brewed beers. It was a bit different since you had a card you used to turn on a tap, then served yourself. By this point, we had walked over four miles. So some refreshments were in order! Leslie spied a shop across the aisle from the bar and found a wonderful outfit to buy. Thus refreshed, we headed out to find a drug store. The maps led us to several wrong locations before we finally found a drugstore in a mall where we stocked up on some things we needed. Since it was almost dinner time, we found a nearby Dim Sum restaurant to try. It also turned out to be good but we ordered more than we could eat in our quest to try several new dishes. We looked at how far the walk was going to be to get back to the pier and decided to go across the street to a hotel and have them call us a cab. In the end, we walked about 6 miles. During the night we pulled out of Honolulu.