Wow! What a day! We flew to Honolulu, rented a car and went directly to Pearl Harbor... we had every intention on going to thall three museums... the USS Arizona memorial, USS Missouri battleship and the USS Bowfin submarine. We started out at the Arizona memorial and as usual, there is a flurry of activity when it opens. Our 35 minute flight departed at 8 am, and by the time we got the rental car, we arrived at Pearl Harbor around 9 am. We got our tickets and were told we would be in the 11:15 group to see the 20 minute movie and then be herded into the boat shuttle to take us to the memorial. The audio tour through the museum was extremely interesting and informative and we had just a little down-time before our group was called. The movie recalled all the details of the attack on Pearl Harbor and dredged up a lot of memories of the feelings we all had on 9/11... an unprovoked attack on American soil resulting in thousands of American deaths and the follow-up effect of bringing all Americans together to do whatever it took to ensure our country's safety; although they didn't even mention the topic of the forcible relocation and internment of approximately 110,000 Japanese nationals and Japanese Americans to housing facilities called "War Relocation Camps". (yes, that was a commentary)By the time we were done at the Arizona, we were hungry enough that we left for a nutritious meal at Jack in the Box and returned to tour the USS Bowfin, the WWII submarine. Afterward, we lost our energy and didn't feel like we needed to see the battleship USS Missouri.
Kyle was eager to see something besides a museum, so we ventured out with our GPS to find the Diamond Head Crater national monument. Unfortunately, the GPS led us in circles and Kyle was eager to go to the beach, so we abandoned our search for the crater.
The weather had been glorious all day long, so we headed to Waikiki beach... unfortunately, when we planned this day-trip we didn't have the desire to drag luggage with us, so we didn't bring any bathing suits. We knew hanging by the beach with no opportunity to go into the surf was killing Kyle, so we stopped in a store ABC stores (which are everywhere in Hawaii), and purchased a bathing suit for Kyle, towel and any accessories we needed. Kyle then played in the Pacific surf and we hung out and enjoyed the day, with its beautiful weather and the opportunity to people-watch. We had an 8 pm return flight so about 5 pm we headed back to the airport and looked forward to basking in the beautiful weather for the rest of the week on Kauai. The differences in islands is striking... because Kauai was my first impression of Hawaii, on my arrival on Oahu, I really disliked Honolulu; it is a big city and didn't really feel like an island. I felt like I was in Miami. So far, I am loving Kauai and hope we can get to Maui next time, so I can compare. 
The time spent in Waikiki was cool... being at a world-famous beach, watching people from all over the world; definitely an experience. The surfing school/area was fun to watch... and watching people paddle-surf is amazing.
The funny thing about being in a location so far from home... we always run into people from Minnesota. There was a family going to Oahu on our flight, and the little boy had on a Twins cap, so we struck up a conversation. They were from Spring Lake Park. At Pearl Harbor, we also ran into several families (that Rosie knew) from the New Ulm/Sleepy Eye area). It's definitely a small world.
On Wednesday, we will be staying local and venturing out to see parts of Kauai we haven't yet seen... and to take advantage of the sun, which we haven't seen much of lately.
Aloha!
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