We trekked west to Pearl Harbor to see the World War II memorial and museums. They made clear that this is not an amusement or an attraction. It is a memorial. The USS Arizona still has hundreds of soldiers interred in its hull after the attack in 1941, including some that chose to be laid to rest there later. The submarine USS Bowfin was also there, although we admired it from a distance while others went aboard. Hawaii still has a very large military presence which is noticeable everywhere we go with military personnel being recognized for their service through special mention and rates.

In the afternoon we went to a luau, a Hawaiian feast and show. We were greeted with a lei, the flower/nut/shell necklaces made famous by Hawaii. Activities like frond weaving and “tattooing” and lei making was going on when we arrived. They demonstrated how the pork is cooked in an underground oven, an imu, before we ate the buffet dinner with Hawaiian pork (not the one from the ground because it was not made in a FDA certified kitchen facility…), poi, tora rolls, lomi lomi salmon, purple Okinawan sweet potato, pineapple cake and more. The evening continued with a varied show of hula dancing, songs, warrior dances and chants and the grande finale of fire knife dancing.