Remember how the day was saved at Pearl Harbor by two rolls of film when the digital camera battery was left at the hotel?
I just got the photos back from the lab. This is the USS Arizona turret that still sticks out of the water.
The oil drops.
USS Missouri
Fire power.
Aaron and two Pearl Harbor vets.
The film came through for us.
I picked up a coconut and pineapple at Wegmans to hang on to that vacation feeling a little longer.
We had fresh coconut my first night in Hawaii.
And I ate pineapple everyday!
The pineapple is pretty good grilled and on top of vanilla frozen yogurt.
I like to get souvenirs when we travel that we can enjoy when we get home and keep the vacation feeling a little longer. Grocery stores is one of my favorite places to check out. We found a lot of Hawaiian goodies to bring home this trip. We got pineapple coconut pancake mix and coconut syrup for on the pancakes.
Kona coffee of course to go with the pancakes!
We got some Kona Coffee seasoning that was so good on chicken!
Coconut peanut butter! Wow - it's so good!
One last post about the food in Hawaii. There were dishes in Hawaii we have never had before. If someone recommended it, we tried it.
This is loco moco. It's a hamburger patty over rice with onions, gravy and a fried egg on top. There was a scoop of macaroni salad on the side. All I could think is how this is like a Hawaiian version of the Rochester Garbage Plate.
We had shave ice a couple times. It's like a super awesome snow cone. The ice is super fine like snow. We debated whether to get it at the famous Matsumoto's or Aoki's. We had Aoki's but to be honest, I think I liked the shave ice at Hula Dog best.
Hula Dog was pretty amazing too. (Hula Dog used to be Puka Dog, but the owners split and they both kept a branch with a different name) They take a bun that is not sliced but has a hole "drilled" through it, toast the INSIDE of the bun by putting the bun on a hot rod, then insert the hot dog into the hole. They squirt toppings into the hole with the hot dog... stuff like pineapple or mango relish. The best sauce is the spicy garlic lemon sauce. It sounds weird but is SO GOOD!
"Plate lunch" is popular in Hawaii. Basically it's kind of like bento but with Western food added in. Well, West for Japan but East for Hawaii? It's a take out container with rice and meat like teriyaki. Again a scoop of macaroni salad might be on the side. This one had a slice of pickled radish. Note I did not care for the hot dog this one included.
This was one of my favorite things to eat while we were in Hawaii. Spam musubi. Rice and spam and sometimes sesame seeds, fried egg or seaweed.
The days Aaron had duty, I would pick one of these up at the corner store (often an ABC store which was literally on every corner) and take it down to the beach with a can of Hawaiian Sun for lunch.
There were a lot of birds in Hawaii we have never seen before. Java Sparrow spotted at Diamond Head.
Brazillian Cardinal at Makapuu Lookout.
There were flowers everywhere in Hawaii. I loved seeing them in the leis.
The state flower of Hawaii is the Yellow Hibiscus.
There were a lot of hibiscus.
And Plumeria which smell so nice.
I liked to learn Hawaiian words, even though I was terrible at remembering them (esp street names)...
...and I loved how they were used everywhere.
Red dirt. The dirt in Ohahu is red from the volcanoes. They even dye shirts with it.
There are these crazy trees in Ohahu called Banyan Trees where roots grow from the top of the tree toward the ground where they take root. Often times they do that and make the trunk of the tree get wider.
There really are surfers everywhere. And there are a lot of bikes and scooters. Hence special carriers on bikes to carry surf boards!
Only in Hawaii. There were quite a few Facebook comments wondering why the person in the wheelchair is naked.
We saved one of the most anticipated spots in Hawaii for last. We had tickets for Pearl Harbor on our last day. We had a near disaster when we got there and realized we left the Nikon battery at the hotel. Luckily I had brought my Ricoh and two rolls of Kodak Ektar 100 film! Until they are developed we have our iPhone pics...
First we went to the USS Arizona Memorial. To get to it you have to ride a boat.
It was definitely an errie sight to see the Arizona just below the water.
Oil still leaks from the ship. About 2 quarts a day.
After that we toured the USS Missouri. They have a "Battleship the Movie" tour you can go on. The Missouri has a great part in that movie.
Aaron had a good look around and said "Yup... this looks familiar".
While we were at Pearl Harbor we also met some veterans that were there. Awesome! Stay tuned for the film photos!
It was almost too much for one day, but after our horseback ride, we got to meet the dolphins at Dolphin Quest.
Dolphin Quest is a place where experts learn more about dolphins and the public can learn more too.
When you meet the dolphins you are actually helping to interact with them and assist in their training.
We learned out to give them signals and reward them.
They like tummy rubs.
Ahhhhh.
What a jump!
And they like treats.
I was beyond excited the entire time.
It was a once in a lifetime opportunity I'll never forget.
