The Gardner's: Oahu

Day 3

This was one of our casual days where we decided not to plan anything just incase we found something we wanted to do. We slept in and then headed to the Honolulu Hard Rock Cafe for lunch.

I really wanted to see Iolani Palace. Iolani Palace is the only royal palace on U.S. soil. The only problem with the palace was their hours. They only have it open from Tuesday through Saturday and only from 9am to 3pm. This didn't fit in with our schedule. So, we dropped by on a Sunday just to walk around a bit.

To our surprise and amazement the palace just so happened to be open to visitors because of an event they had going on! So, we got to go inside! Unfortunately, they don't let you take pictures though. But, I was so happy we got to see it.

Then we jumped in the car and took a drive up to the north shore!

The sights to see on the north shore are incredible. If we ever go back to Oahu again we're definitely staying up there. It was beautiful. I couldn't really get a lot of pictures because the road is really narrow and there weren't a lot of places to stop and pull over. It's a shame really, but these will have to suffice. We stopped at this funky store for a potty break. I ended up buying a cute Hawaiian sarong from there. It was only $4!

Day 4

Today was another highlight of Oahu for me. We planned a dolphin excursion at Sea Life Park on the east coast of Oahu.

Howie didn't find swimming with dolphins very exciting so, I did it by myself. I didn't mind because Howie turned out to be an excellent photographer for me!
Here you can see me waiting for the dolphin fun to start. I'm in the front of the line.

First I got to do a dolphin foot push.

Those animals are strong!

I was surprised!

Dorsal tow.

We got to pet the dolphins as they swam by us.

I got to hold a dolphin.

Aren't they cute?

The dolphin instructor said for us to "Give these guys a round of applause!" and as soon as we started clapping one of the dolphins swam by us splashing us with his fin!

It was so funny!

After my dolphin excursion we checked out the rest of the park.

We saw sea turtles and got to feed them.

Penguins

We sat and watched a sea life show. It was so cool to see the dolphins do tricks!

They brought out sea lions that did a ton of tricks!

The park was set right on the coast. Beautiful!

When we'd had enough of the park we went back to the hotel, showered and went into Honolulu for dinner. After searching for a place for a while we settled on Senor Frog's. Ever been to one? It's so weird.

The staff felt that they needed to constantly entertain everyone dining there.

First they got up and did a line dance to "Cotton Eye Joe".

The rest I didn't get pictures of because I was trying to enjoy my meal. But, they came out to sing Happy Birthday to a girl at another table and sprayed her with a huge can of condensed air...multiple times. (I've got to admit it was a funny sight to see.) They started playing a loud song that had buzzing sounds in it and then all of the sudden a large man wearing a fly suit...and a diaper...came out and walked around to different tables. And lastly, right before we were about to leave, they started playing a Tequilla song overhead and then a group of workers came out with a bottle and started tilting peoples heads back to give them a taste of whatever they had. They came to our table and I was afraid to try it thinking it was alcoholic. Luckily, after they splashed it in my mouth I could tell instantly that it wasn't so, it was all good. I think it was a blueberry margarita mix without the alcohol. Anyway, we were pretty happy to leave that restaurant. We didn't know what was going to happen next!

We walked back to our car and came across this cute little shopping area called King's Village.

It was cute!

Day 5

On our last full day in Oahu we toured the fabulous Pearl Harbor.

Here is the anchor from the U.S.S. Arizona.

On the boat out to the U.S.S. Arizona Memorial.

Here are the names of the men that died on Decmeber 7, 1941.

Here are the men that survived the attacks and died later.

There are still 21 survivors alive today. When they die they will request to be burried back with their crew. They do this by cremating them and putting the urn down an entry hole on the ship.

Here is the oil that has been leaking from the ship for over 60 years now. The remaining survivors believe that the oil is a result of the ship crying for it's lost crew members and once they have all passed on and been returned to the ship the oil leak will stop.
I guess we'll see in time if that is correct!

We got to see the U.S.S. Oklahoma memorial.

Then we toured the massive U.S.S. Missouri.

This ship is still owned by the military even though it's a museum now. They could still use it today if they needed to. Even with it's age, it's still able to keep up with ships they use today.

This dent in the side of the boat marks the spot where a kamikaze plane hit it.

Inside the U.S.S. Missouri were cramped quarters unless you had a pretty high rank in the military. I wouldn't have wanted to be an average crew member on board. No thanks.