We got up early (6:00 am or noon back home) :) and proceeded to get lost driving to Pearl Harbor for September 11'th.

The good think is that we learned a bit about highway 1 that would come in handy later.

Pearl Harbor was very moving. We saw a short film showing footage from the event, and I never realized how big a terrible tragedy it was. Most deaths were on account of the Arizona exploding when a torpedo hit its forward magazine. Over a thousand men died instantly. Everyone was very silent when we walked through the Arizona Memorial itself. At 10:06 am, they called for a moment of silence and rang the bell recovered from the Arizona in remembrance of those that lost their lives a year ago today. It seemed like a fitting place to be for September 11th.

After Pearl Harbor, we went to lunch at Sam Chow's. It was pretty good! Great seafood! We planned our route for our drive through Oahu.

Our first stop was the 7-11 to ask where we were (we got lost again). Our second stop was the Dole pineapple plantation. We went through the world's largest hedge maze (as of 2001). We also filled up on pineapple ice cream and pineapple juice! We learned about the history of Mr. Dole (who graduated Harvard with a Horticultural degree and moved to Hawaii). It was interesting. I never would have thought that someone would go to Harvard to become a farmer! :)

After Dole, we went a whole bunch of places. We got shaved ice at Masumotos and we passed by a ton of beautiful beaches to take pictures. One of the more-memorable stops was the trip to "Puu o Mahuka Heiau." It was designed as a sacrificial altar. The road up to this site was absolutely frightening! It was a two-way, one-lane, switchback road! I think the scariest part was when we passed by a car that looked like it exploded and drove off the road!

We don't know what we would have done if someone came from the other direction! As soon as we got to the top, we were rewarded with the most awesome view! Then a truck with two guys pulled up right next to us. We thought, "uh oh …. I sure hope they don't want to kill us! No one would ever find us!"

But it turns out they weren't murderers and the pictures came out great. There was even still an altar there (with fruit on it, though, instead of sacrificial animals).

That night, we walked on the beach to "Duke's" (a famous hot spot) for drinks and some tuna. By that point, I was so tired that I felt as if I would fall over. The drinks probably didn't help, either. Nothing like a depressant to wake you up, eh? :)

Oh! And Hilary Victor and I (still getting used to that) found out that neither of us like "Mai Tai's". I tried a "Lava Flow" which is like a Pina Colata with strawberry daiquiri mix. That was good!

I like virgin drinks just as much, if not more, though. We swaggered back down the beach to our hotel. We almost got wet from the ocean spray of waves hitting the rocks under the public sidewalks!

Tomorrow … we go on a mountain hike!

Artsy shot from the car :)

Hilary and I at the Ali'i tower at sunset

Day 0 Day 1 Day 2 Day 3 Day 4 Day 5 Day 6 Day 7 Day 8 Day 9 Day 10 Day 11 Day 12 Lessons Learned