Sterling Cale: A True American

While we were at Pearl harbor, we were fortunate to meet one of the last Pearl Harbor survivors, Sterling Cale!  Sterling was very pleasant and he posed for photos and signed autographs for visitors stopping by to say hello.

We swung by to meet him, and for a low $10, we bought his autobiography!

The book is an easy to read 50 pages.  There are photos from Sterling's long military career.  He talks about growing up, joining the military, and finding his way to Hawaii.  He gives his personal, vivid story about the events of December 7th, 1941.  He also talks about the clean up and recovery afterwards.

I think it is so great that Sterling spends time at Pearl Harbor!

USS Missouri at Pearl Harbor in Hawaii

The Battleship the USS Missouri is at Pearl Harbor in Hawaii.  I don't think my photos really show just how big the ship is!

The Missouri is noted for being the site of the surrender of Japan at the end of World War II.  The Missouri saw action up through Desert Storm.

I was reading that a kamikaze pilot actually crashed into the ship during WWII.  The Captain of the Missouri felt that the now dead pilot had done his job to the best of his ability and he gave the man a military funeral.

Here are a few of my photos of the USS Missouri!

USS Bowfin at Pearl Harbor in Hawaii

You can tour the submarine the USS Bowfin at Pearl Harbor!

We have been to a couple of other subs before, and I was thinking that there are only a handful or so that you can tour...  but I just looked it up, there are lots!

You can look up the Bowfin's history pretty easily, and I really don't have a lot to add.  Here are my photos.

The important thing to remember about a submarine tour is that you will be in a very tight and cramped area.  In some places, on shoulder was touching one wall, and the other shoulder was against another.  If you are claustrophobic, you might want to skip a tour.

Pearl Harbor in Hawaii

Here are just a few pictures we took while at Pearl Harbor, mostly on the USS Arizona Memorial.

This is an absolute must see location, and a site that I am proud to say I finally got to visit.

We arrived around 7 one morning, and there was a pretty long line formed already to get in.  We got in the line, and it moved pretty fast.  Within minutes we had tickets to go to the USS Arizona Memorial for 7:45 in hand.  This gave us time to get our tickets to tour the USS Missouri, and the USS Bowfin.  Only the Pearl Harbor tickets were free.

We made our way to a theater area where we went in to see a short film.  The film tells about the attack on Pearl Harbor.  After that, we got on a boat to take us to the USS Arizona Memorial.

In case you don't know, the USS Arizona was bombed during the attack on Pearl Harbor by the Japanese on December 7th, 1941.  1,177 members of the US Navy were lost.

The Arizona has been left at the bottom of Pearl Harbor ever since, and, in 1962, the memorial was built over it.  Now, visitors can ride out to the fallen vessel, and look directly over it. 

Survivors of the attack who served on the ship may have their ashes scattered over the ship, or they may have their urns places inside of it.

AND, visiting is a very touching experience. 

Each group has maybe 20 minutes or so to take it all in before the next boat comes in, rotating out visiting groups.

Anna Miller's on Oahu Hawaii

We passed by Anna Miller's a couple of times while in Hawaii, and it just looked appealing.  We went in to check it out.

AGAIN, there is a very retro vibe in Hawaii.  A lot of places have a very throw back feel.  Anna Miller's was one of them.

The artwork on the menu and on the walls, showing a Holly Hobbie type character.  The art also reminded me of the early 80s Strawberry Shortcake images too.  I ALMOST asked about buying one of the menus, but I settled for a photo.

The waitresses wore cute little (maybe) Swiss inspired uniforms. 

We had some GREAT pie here one night.  Check out the photos.


We dealt with several friendly staff here (and, let me reinforce a positive stereotype, everyone in Hawaii is friendly).

For me, this was a place that seemed a bit out of place for Hawaii.  The artwork, the good food, etc. reminded me of some of my favorite places in the Amish areas of Ohio.  Plus, when I think of restaurants in Hawaii, I think of pineapple, and fruity desserts.  This was not what I expected and we loved it!

The Waikikian

The back of this unused postcard notes, "The WAIKIKIAN...  Hawaii's most beautiful hotel, has a private beach, freshwater pool, 125 suites and rooms, 3 acres of Tiki Gardens, Polynesian Buildings.  At The Tahitan Lanai one may dine at water's edge or enjoy cocktails at poolside."

Bird's Eye View- Honolulu Harbor

This undated postcard says on the back-
Honolulu Harbor as seen from the Punch-bowl, showing the New Federal Building, T. T. Davies & Co's Building and one of the 535 United States Shipping Board Steamers leaving the Harbor.

Kualoa Ranch in Hawaii

If you don't know this Ranch has been the filming location for a TON of movies and TV shows.  It is large and exotic.

We met and got on our bus for a 1 1/2 hour bus tour.  We had a very sweet young girl who was our bus driver/tour guide, and she was great.  I did not catch her name.  She looked like she was maybe 16, but obviously she was older.  She made lots of jokes, including some with potty humor, and she obviously enjoyed her job.  She had everyone cracking up the whole time.  She pointed out wild hogs on the property (I would see a couple walking near the road even near Honolulu later on the trip).  We passed some structures that had been there during WWII.  We went in to a bunker from the war, and there were tons of movie props in it.  Our bus driver gave us a tour inside of it.  Lots of stuff relating to Jumanji, Lost, Kong, etc.  After exiting the bus here, we could see some whale movement and water shooting up in the ocean at a distance.  There was a great view from here too!

We continued our tour, and saw filming locations for the above mentioned movies and more.  Dwayne Johnson was mentioned a lot, as he has been in a lot of films made at the ranch.  Our guide told us that, for one movie (maybe all of them?) filmed there, the filming company had to buy all of the tickets for the days tours. 

A highlight of the trip was driving through a boneyard used for the King Kong Skull Island movie.  A HUGE skull was there, and a horseback riding group went by, so I got a photo of people riding horses through the giant boneyard!

We did get out of the bus for a photo op by a downed tree used in Jurassic Park.  Our bus driver took a couple of photos of us by it, then she told us to look scared, and she took a photo, posing a toy dinosaur near us right by the camera.  The affect is perfect and cool.  An assistant on the tour, also did a couple of photos of us in the field where Jurassic Park was filmed.  He did a cool, almost Matrix like move with his hands, holding two of our groups cameras.  He took a regular photo, AND a panoramic on each phone at the same time.  The pics were perfect too!

At the end of our trip, our guide (who never hinted for a tip) greeted us as we got off the bus.  I was glad to see that she was tipped as she was fantastic.

Kualoa Ranch is a very cool place.  They offer all sorts of tours besides bus tours (hors rides, ATV, etc).

Dole Plantation in Hawaii

We stopped by the Dole Plantation in Hawaii for a couple of hours on our trip!

We stopped by and took a train ride while we were here!  There was a recording playing as we rode, explaining some of the history of Dole, and talking about the various foods grown here.

There is a lot of other stuff going on here too.  They have a giant maze you can walk through, plenty of walking areas, and a HUGE gift shop.

Of coarse, I am pretty sure that having some pineapple ice cream here is something that is expected of you when you go to Hawaii.  We did share a HUGE cone.  A small plastic plate is put around the cone to hold pineapple slices added to the cone.

Here are some pictures from Dole Plantation!