The USS Arizona Memorial

 A while back we went to see the USS Arizona Memorial. It's been on our "Hawaii Bucket List" ever since we got here. To see the Arizona, you have to go to the visitor's center on Pearl Harbor, get tickets, and ride a ferry over to the memorial. The ship is still right where it sunk, right off of Ford Island (a small island in Pearl Harbor). 

The cool thing about all of this is that it's free. I'm not sure who bears the costs for upkeep and such (it's possible that the gift shop at least helps), but I did see Navy members in uniform working (driving the ferry). 

The not so cool thing about this is that the tickets are first come first served. And you can imagine this is a pretty popular destination. We got to the visitor's center a little before noon, and our "tour time" was at 2:15 pm. So... we got to wait for a while. 

There were things to look at while we were there {need to take more pictures next time}, but we did get a little hot. 

One of the cool things to check out was this copper 3D map of Oahu. We looked at it for a while, pointing out where we were now, where our house was, where Daddy works, etc. The kids thought it was pretty cool. 

This is the ferry we took to get to the memorial. 

And here is the memorial. I thought the structure was awesome, and it looked so pretty against the bright blue water in the harbor.

The USS Missouri is docked right by the memorial, and you get a pretty good view while out on the water. (That's on our list too, but it's expensive!) 

This might be kind of hard to see, but it's some part of the ship that's visible under the water. Sorry, I can't remember what part, It's been a few weeks since we went.

This part of the ship was visible above the water.

A full shot of the memorial.

This is the wall that has all the crew member's names. 

This thing marks the bridge of the ship. (Please tell me that's right, I'm working on memory alone here, and I don't have the best lately...)

Jeremy and the kids in front of the ship part sticking out. 

This is what is left of the flag mast. (I remember that for sure!)

Us on the way back to the visitor's center. The kids thought it was so cool to ride on a boat!

And these are the flags flying out in front of the visitor's center.