Wednesday, July 2, 2008

I Will Remember You . . .
















Day Six in Hawaii and we were up at the crack of dawn to catch a flight to the island of Oahu.

There were five things on the agenda:

1.  Visit Pearl Harbor
2.  Eat a Puka Dog
3.  Find The Gap at Ala Moana 
4.  If time permitted go to Waikiki Beach for a swim
5.  Fly back to Kona

I was stopped by the TSA's at the Kona airport because my Trader Joe's sunscreen was a threat to national security.  The good news was that I had already applied the lotion before getting to the airport.  The bad news was they confiscated my brand new bottle.

When we arrived in Honolulu it had just rained.  Fortunately the sun was out and that was a nice change after the constant Vog in Kona.

We opted to rent a Jeep Wrangler for the Day.  We unzipped the windows and were off to find Pearl Harbor.  I missed the turn off to the memorial and we ended up driving way off course.  This turned out to be a good thing because Wendy had been craving a Jack In The Box taco since her arrival back on the west coast and of course the off ramp I chose to turn around on had Jack right there!

Word to future Pearl Harbor visitors, Hawaii does not have clear signs on how to get to the memorial.  I think the only reason we found it was by accident.

We arrived at about 9am and were given tickets for the memorial at 11:15.  This gave us plenty of time to take the $5.00 audio tour of the museum.   Just like our trip to Ellis Island in 2005, Wendy powered through the museum and I met back up with her about an hour and half later.  

I will say there was so much about the attack on Pearl Harbor I did not know and I have a far deeper appreciation for the magnitude of the tragedy now having visited the memorial.

Below are some pictures from Pearl Harbor.






 














































After Pearl Harbor we were off to find Puka Dog.  Wendy had seen a show on the Travel Channel that said Puka Dogs on the island of Oahu were a must for hot dog lovers.  Prior to our trip I had Map Quested directions on how to get from Pearl Harbor to Puka Dog.  We found Puka Dog in a little shopping center.















A Puka Dog in my opinion (Wendy thought it was fabulous) is a glorified hot dog.  Seriously, the hot dog is put into this bun with a hole in it.  That's it.  I was expecting a little more.  I guess I thought the bun would be different, more substantial or something.  But it tasted like a regular hot dog bun.  The one cool thing about Puka Dog is they have a wide variety of tropical relishes used to flavor your dog with.   I went with Banana relish and it was good.




















Here is Wendy about to enjoy her Puka Dog.  





















Here is me contemplating the fact that half the reason we had flown from Kona to Honolulu was for a hot dog.  No joke.
















After Puka Dog we traveled a few blocks to the Ala Moana shopping center.  A huge mall with lots of great stores.  And to continue my shopping mall tour of  America...I can now cross this one off the list.  

Thank God I arrived when I did because The Gap store had forgotten to mark down the Men's Overdye Tote Bag.  Fortunately I was able to get an employee to properly price these items.  Imagine if I hadn't have shown up when I did.  We may have lost sales.  =)

After the mall we walked across the street to the Ala Moana Beach for a short swim and some time in the sun. 
















It was then time to head back to the airport to return to Kona.  

















The Song Of The Day - Migrate by Mariah Carey featuring T - Pain

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