Remembering our Military Heroes with a visit to Pearl Harbor in Oahu, Hawaii

I hope that all my American friends had a nice Memorial Day Holiday yesterday as we honored our Military men and women. We did… I have not uploaded my pictures yet so I will have to wait to tell you about it.

However, it is fitting at this time of remembering our fallen military heroes  to continue our Hawaii Cruise adventure with you today by taking you to our 3rd Island stop witch was Oahu.

This was the view from our balcony room when we woke up in Oahu. Quite unlike the other Islands, we were in the middle of a metropolis. I could hear the music from Hawaii Five O playing in my head and almost picture Dano speeding through the streets to catch bad guys. I was excited to be there.

I had rented 2 vans for us to use before we left home. 13 of our group spent the day touring the island. John and our friend Frank made great drivers.

Our first stop was at the Punch Bowl which is the National cemetery. Thousands were buried there after Pearl Harbor. We were a bit disappointed that they have removed all of the white crosses.  However, it is still a sacred place and offers a great view of the city.

Our next stop was Pearl Harbor

We spent 2 hours there and could have stayed a lot longer there was so much to see and do.

It was an honor meeting some of the Pearl Harbor survivors and listening to their stories.

We spent time going through the museums and…

then we took the water shuttle

out to the resting place of the USS Arizona.

We were asked not to talk when we got to the memorial because of it’s sacred nature. It is the watery tomb of  over 1,000 of the sailors who died there on Dec. 7, 1941.

We entered in silence. Our hearts were touched as we peered down into the watery grave….

and paid our respects to those who died there and brought us into WWII.

After our solemn morning spent at Pearl Harbor and the Punch Bowl we went on to tour the rest of the island.

Our next stop was at the Iolani Palace which is the only Palace located with in the United States. We watched a movie in the visitor center and learned more about the interesting Hawaiian history.

The park by the palace had amazing banyan trees and Hibiscus which is the state flower.

We then drove around the island to the North Shore.  We had to drive by BYU Hawaii and the Polynesian Cultural Center on our way to the…

LDS “Mormon” Temple.  Click here if you would like to learn more about our beliefs.

The grounds are beautiful.  There is a special peaceful spirit there.

Our whole group also enjoyed spending time in the visitor’s center on the temple grounds….

…reminding us that the Gospel of Jesus Christ is available to benefit all the world.

Our last stop on our busy tour of the island was…

The beautiful beach

We returned to our ship and sailed away at 11:00 p.m. We will always treasure our day on Oahu.

Thanks for joining me on our tour of this island.

Hugs, Grammy Lura