On the Beach at Waikiki

by Pa Rock
Beach Bum

A few more notes from Honolulu:

Gas here seems to average around $3.29 a gallon, a bit less than I expected yet still plenty high enough.  Perhaps the price will come down after Trump’s friends in the oil industry start erecting oil derricks along the coasts of Hawaii’s beautiful islands.

Yesterday we had a late breakfast in a restaurant called Anna Miller’s which is essentially a Denny’s on steroids.  I had Banana/Macadamia Nut pancakes with a side order of bacon.  (Everything is better with bacon!)  The pancakes were delicious!  Then in the afternoon we did the tour of Pearl Harbor.  One of the guides told us that it would be closing on Monday due to the government shutdown, and that the U.S. Navy personnel conducting our Sunday tour were doing so as volunteers.  The tour, including a film, was quite memorable, especially the boat ride out to the USS Arizona memorial.   That was an awe-inspiring experience.

Later Valerie took us over to Ford Island where she works.  Ford Island sits across the bay from Pearl Harbor and is actually much closer to the memorial – with great views in every direction.

One souvenir that I bought at Pearl Harbor was a large book containing biographies of every serviceman (mostly sailors) who died aboard the Arizona.    Most of the short biographies list dates of birth, hometowns, rank, service numbers, and the names and addresses of the surviving parents and/or spouses.   Some also share amusing anecdotes about the childhoods of those who died.  I read one which told of the young man and his brother, who, as boys, disassembled a neighbor's Model T Ford and reassembled on top of the poor guy's barn - as a Halloween prank!  The bodies of the young men who died aboard the Arizona were left entombed in the ship, so many of the biographies indicate that the deceased “continues to serve” aboard the USS Arizona.

Later in the day we drove across the main campus of the University of Hawaii.  It’s a nice campus with many modern buildings and lots of lush foliage.    One of the departments that I noticed was an Institute of Oceanography.  (Valerie has a thing about college campuses.  She and I have done walking tours of the University of Taiwan and the University of Guam.)

Today Patti and I are on the beach at Waikiki.    The water felt warm to me, but Patti begged to disagree.  I walked out along one of the breakers where I was able to watch surfers up close and personal, and saw many crabs scuttling along the breaker.  A pirate ship was quietly drifting along not too far out to sea, and the horizon was also dotted with colorful sailboats and helicopters ferrying rich tourists who didn’t want to roam the beach with mere mortals and get sand in their sandals.

(If Trump was welcome in Hawaii, I’m sure that he would also opt to fly the beach in his taxpayer-funded helicopter.  I've not seen one Trump-Pence sticker anywhere.  It's so nice to be among civilized people for a change!)

Patti had some peanuts in her bag, and I quickly made many friends as I broke them up and fed them to the pigeons.  Some of the birds sat on my arm as I fed them, and others would eat from my hand.  I may have to get some pigeons for the farm.  The fun ended when a homeless fellow came up and asked for something to eat - and Patti gave him the rest of the peanuts!

So now it is Monday and the shutdown has ended.  Schumer buckled (flinched, rolled over, capsized, capitulated, bent over, etc)  like we all knew he would, and the GOP terrorists reign supreme.    In a few weeks we will dance again, but, until then, decency and civilization hang precariously in the balance.  Stay strong, Dreamers - God loves you even if the Republican Party doesn't!

It's eighty degrees under blue skies along Waikiki beach!  Aloha!