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Today it’s back to the mainland, but first I wanted to see the Pearl Harbor Memorial.

I was able to take a bus from almost right in front of the hotel to the memorial itself which was very nice. I got a ticket for the 9:30 tour to visit the USS Arizona, and with the hour or so before then I walked around the museum. The exhibits were extremely interesting, from an unexploded Japanese torpedo to personal mementos from the crew of the Arizona it was fascinating to see. The USS Arizona Memorial with its unmistakable white platform was clearly visible from the shore, and to get there the Navy provided a boat to ferry visitors back and forth. Before boarding the ferry a short video was shown giving an overview of what happened on December 7, 1941. I’ve been to Ground Zero in New York a few times before and after being ferried out to the memorial platform that overlooks the sunken Arizona it had that same kind of feeling. Inside there are marble inscriptions of all of the sailors and marines who died, and the platform has many places to view the Arizona which has a few parts that rise out of the water, but is mostly submerged. I was also able to see a fair amount of oil still seeping out of the ship.

After seeing the memorial I took a bus back to the hotel and then boarded my final flight of the trip on Alaska Airlines to Seattle. I would also like to thank all of the pilots and crew of the Hawaiian, but especially the Alaska Airlines crews. I flew on Alaska Air for everything other than the Maui to Honolulu flight. All of the planes were on time, the crews were friendly, and the flights were smooth, and most importantly, we landed safely each time

After arriving in Seattle I took a quick drive to Olympia to my hotel. Tomorrow I will pick up the furthest western point in the lower 48 states by hiking out to Cape Alava Trail in Washington.

One last note, with the Alaska and Hawaii driving combined with more miles than I anticipated on the mainland, it looks like this trip will cover over 18,000 miles of driving. The long day trip through Denali National Park (and back) was an option that was not originally included because I wasn’t sure how tired I would be at that point in the trip.

Tags: Big Road Trip