Visiting Pearl Harbor was a really cool experience. Daylen has been wanting to visit since he was a kid, he has always been into WWII history. Because of that, I've seen multiple Pearl Harbor movies many times and heard about it a lot as well. So we were both excited to be able to actually go there!
We stopped for a Hawaiian McDonald's breakfast just outside of Joint Base on Oahu. It's crazy how different McDonald's meals are around the world! Then, we headed off to Pearl Harbor. First, we stood in line for a little bit for the USS Arizona Memorial. Instead of booking a time, we were in standby for the water taxi, but it didn't take super long. We rode on a water taxi out to the memorial, in the middle of the bay.
The memorial is really cool. They have built it on top of the Arizona, to be the length of the actual Arizona. If you don't know, the USS Arizona was sunk by Japan during Pearl Harbor in 1941. As a memorial, it remains underwater as a grave for the 900 men still on the ship. It has been over 80 years since the attack on Pearl Harbor. The Historic Site asks for quiet respect out on the memorial.
After seeing the Arizona memorial, we walked through some informational plaques about Pearl harbor and grabbed some souvenirs from the shop there. Then, we hopped on a shuttle to Ford Island to visit the Pearl Harbor Aviation Museum. Daylen had seen some planes and such online, and we decided we had to visit the museum. It's an extra add on, separate from the memorial. It was super cool! We saw lots of planes and more information on the attack. We even got to go into the hangars that have the original doors and bullet holes from 1941.
We didn't have time for a tour of the USS Missouri or the submarine, but we hope to go back someday and see those! It was so worth the time to spend at Pearl Harbor, and learn so much about the history of Oahu.
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