64 Days till Paradise

Fun Facts: In Hawaii, no celebration’s complete without a lei. And the flower garlands come with strict rules. For starters, it’s impolite to refuse a lei, remove it in front of the person who gave it to you, or wear one that you intended to give to someone else. A lei should never be thrown away. Instead, it should traditionally be returned to the earth, ideally to where its flowers were gathered. And it’s bad luck to give a lei to a pregnant woman, as it suggests an umbilical cord around the baby’s neck. (mentalfloss.com)

One of the most reverent and sacred places in America is the memorial for the battleship Arizona. It is especially sacred to those of the “Greatest Generation”. We all have some degree of contact with these great Americans. My father was a bombardier/navigator on B-17’s in the European Theater during WWII. Some of you probably have relatives who fought or supported the war effort during that time. The memorial at Pearl Harbor was the beginning of that great conflict, which further tested the “mettle” of our citizens after coming out of the greatest economic crisis America has ever known. Many people who have written reviews for their visit to Pearl Harbor express how emotional the experience was. Norwegian offers a dissembarkment excursion of Pearl Harbor and the U.S.S. Arizona memorial, where World War II started, and the battleship U.S.S. Missouri, where the conflict ended. Our ship, the Pride of America, docks around 7:00am on Saturday. Our plane doesn’t leave for our trip home until about 7:00pm that evening. I think it would be a great opportunity to take advantage of the dissembarkment excursion to Pearl Harbor. The excursion ends at the Airport where we can wait for our departure. Aloha :-)