First Days

The second day I was in Hawaii, my dad and I went to Pearl Harbor; we visited the USS Arizona Memorial. Before we took a boat to the actual memorial, we watched a short film with actual footage from the 7th of December in 1941. I have seen movies about Pearl Harbor, but I haven't seen that much actual footage. It was incredible but

 terrifying at the same time. After the movie, we were able to go to the memorial, which is right on top of the actual sunken Arizona ship. You can see oil seeping out of the ship. People sometimes call it the "tears of Arizona" or "black tears." One of the workers told us that on the anniversary of the attack, the oil coming out was more than any other day. It's like they were really there and giving a sign, which is absolutely crazy. It was really cool to be where the attack took place.

 

We also decided to take a trip to Diamond Head, which is a state monument. The sunrise happened too early for us to be at the top when it rose, but we still went right when it opened at 6:00, which is incredibly early. The hike isn't too bad until you get to the stairs; they are awful. There are three different staircases, and the worst is the second one. It's great until you get about halfway up, and then you feel like dying from staircase exhaustion. And when you finish those stairs, there are other ones right after it. But the view at the top is totally worth it. It is so beautiful, even though you could barely move because there was so many people up there, especially Asians.