Having not been able to make it over to the USS Arizona yesterday, we made a trip back to Pearl Harbor first thing in the morning to get tickets for today. Janie parked the car while J. R. ran in and picked up 10:50 tickets. Since it was still early, we drove to a local breakfast chain called Zippy's for some pancakes and then spent some time in the Pearl Harbor gift shop while waiting for our turn to catch a boat for the Memorial.

Once on-board the floating memorial, we were struck by the sacrifice the men who manned the Arizona had made. The thought of being entombed below the surface was driven home when our guide told us about Arizona survivors, who when they died, left instructions for their remains to be cremated and brought back to Hawai'i to be entombed along with their fallen shipmates. When thinking about the Arizona, we always imagined her sunk deep beneath the surface, so to be able to see parts of the ship and to still see the oil seeping up to the surface was awe-inspiring.

After the Arizona, we decided today would be a general day of relaxation. Janie needed to find a book for her marketing class, so we tried a couple of the local bookstores to no avail and then tried to find some lunch, but nothing was really appealing. So we stopped at the local McDonald's. One thing is consistent, no matter where you travel, and that is McDonald's service. The service was very slow, but we ended up with extra drinks because the server put out our sodas and Janie took them back to the table without J. R. knowing and then the server put out another set of drinks thinking she had not provided them. Well, it was a hot day. After lunch, we walked back to the Hilton and spent the afternoon lounging around the hotel and the pool.

It was J. R.'s birthday, so Janie made reservations at the steakhouse in the hotel and the kids ordered sandwiches from the hotel sandwich shop and spent time in the hotel room watching TV and playing video games while the adults went out to eat. The restaurant was okay; definitely over-priced for the food, and the service was not especially good. In other words, a typical hotel restaurant. They did, however, present each table at the end with their own version of Diamondhead -- chocolate truffles nestled in a chocolate Diamondhead server smoking over dry ice. As the parents had already had dessert, this dessert went home to the hotel room for the kids.