Monday, April 17, 2023

April 17 - “USS Arizona”

Back on the excursion train again. Well, not train exactly. More like a glass-bottom boat. Time to see what’s under the sea. We were the first ones to board. 


We went for a boat ride on a glass bottom boat. Surfing in the area was down a bit. A guy was bitten by a tiger shark last week. The trip was more just a relaxing boat ride than excursion. We did see several species of fish, though. But the highlight was certainly the two green sea turtles we saw swimming around lazily. 


Then if was back to Pearl Harbor. This time, thanks to Larry, we had tickets to the USS Arizona memorial. Out of 24 ships that got bombed all were recovered except Arizona, Utah and Oklahoma. And the ones recovered saw action later in the war. 


We had to be ferried out to the memorial by active duty Navy guys. And once we entered, we were told to treat it the same as if we were in a cemetery - a holy place.  Not everybody complied, but it was still a sobering experience. The outline of the ship under the water shows how vast the tragedy was. A Ranger told us that when the Arizona was bombed, they hit the part of the ship where a million pounds of explosives were stored. If created quite the explosion and fireball. We found the name of a guy who knew my mom. There was also someone named Vaughan. A cousin somewhere along the line. 


From there we needed a cold drink, so we tracked down a place called Ice Garden. They served a local fare called shave ice. Yes, we had it once before. It was good enough for seconds. And that’s where we met the pit bull crossed with a bull dog. Looked like an extremely fat dachshund with a pit bull face that made weird noises like a bulldog. Strange beast. But apparently very gentle. 


After much discussion (as per our usual), we went straight to Olive Garden for supper. There had been an hour and a half wait the night before, so we decided to beat the Sunday night crowd. And beat it we did. We were seated right away in the cool outside breezeway. Everybody got what was ordered, and we ate ‘til we were full. Good stuff, that lasagna. 


Back at the hotel, we didn’t hesitate. Chris was feeling poorly, and I was still beat and beginning to cough. This CoBid was tough. We hit the sack. 


John‬ ‭11‬‬:‭25‬-‭26‬ says, Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. The one who believes in me will live, even though they die; 26 and whoever lives by believing in me will never die. Do you believe this?”


Father, please break this crud that Chris has so she can be comfortable on this long journey home. Amen. 

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