Today is Tuesday and we are going to cross the International Dateline tonight. We are told that we will go to bed on Tuesday evening and when we wake up it will be Thursday morning. If that doesn't blow your mind, I don't know what does.

Anyhow, I wanted to share some more information about our Pearl Harbor VIP Tour before I lose a day..

After leaving Pearl Harbor, we had several other important places to visit.

We next went to the U.S. Army Base, Fort Shafter, where we were waved right through the gate.

We then were taken to the Officer’s Club for lunch. Talk about being VIPs! The Commanding Officer of the base is 3 Star General Walter G. Short and he had his own parking space. That is impressive. I tried talking our tour guide into parking in that space since we were VIPs, but he wouldn't have anything to do with that idea.

As we are eating lunch, we are in a small room with all the doors and windows open to catch the breeze. It was a nice lunch and beautiful surroundings. We even had a small bird decide to see what was on the floor that we may have dropped.

After lunch, we took a tour of the base. We stopped at Richardson Hall, which is sometimes called the Pineapple Pentagon.

Across the street was the parade ground. It is in every Pearl Harbor film that has been made. It is ringed with Coconut trees. On the far side, are a number of homes. These include the current residence of the Commanding Officer. The house on the far right is the house in which George Patton stayed when he was stationed in Hawaii.

Next, we drove to Wheeler Air Field. Our route took us almost identical to the flight pattern of the Japanese airplanes as they flew toward Wheeler Air Field. Our historian gave us a blow by blow account as we made this drive.

Because this is an active Air Force Base, our picture taking was limited. There were a number of old aircraft that we could take pictures of and this aircraft is not actually a real aircraft. It is made of fiberglass and was built for the latest Pearl Harbor Film. The company allowed the base to keep it since they did not have any of the original aircraft on the base.,

One of the things we could take a picture of was the backside of the Hangers which were destroyed on December 7, 1941. The Army Air Force built them back and the second picture shows the destruction on that infamous day. We were not allowed to take pictures of the runway or the front of the hangers. Because we had special permission to be on the base, our guide/historian was responsible and would be fined $300 for each picture we took that was not allowed. We all obeyed.

Our next stop was Schofield Barracks.Again, our bus was allowed directly onto the base.

If you look close and squint your eyes a little, you can imagine the actors and the various shots of the barracks in all the Pearl Harbor films that have been made.

Our next stop is to the Punchbowl National Memorial, the final resting place for over 35,000 Americans who proudly served their country. It is actually the bowl of an old crater.

On our way out of the cemetery, we could see an old bunker built in WWII. It is still in use today and is used for storage.

To get to our next stop we have to travel through downtown Honolulu. We saw the only Palace in the United States and many other buildings, but Rexie insisted on seeing the King Kamehameha statue. The name probably doesn't mean anything, but it is one shot that all Hawaiian TV shows have, especially Hawaii 5-0.

Speaking of Hawaii 5-0, we drove by the building that the new Steve has as his headquarters and in the back are two of the five silver mustangs they use on the show. You will notice one of them peaking behind the police cars. We know these police cars are TV police cars because Honolulu is in gold and the real police cars have Honolulu in White.

Next, we stop at the Home of the Brave Museum, which houses memorabilia from WWII. This is also home of our historian that took us on the tour. It housed so much stuff it was hard to see it all because every place you looked, you saw something new and different.

Here is our tour guide and historian. Ivor knew so much about December 7, 1941 that it was amazing. We have never ever been on a tour with such a knowledgeable person. He got us in places that most visitors to Honolulu never see. The BEST tour we have ever taken. If you ever go to Honolulu, have these people take you around the area.

As we head back to our ship, we look up and see this tower which has Aloha written on all four sides. A perfect end to the day.

I must be off! (Maybe more now than ever)