Oahu Trip Day 1: Honolulu Zoo and Pearl Harbor

Honolulu has been one of my mom's bucket list so when she told us she was coming to the States this winter, we immediate booked tickets to Oahu. We are not into crowded/ touristy place so the truth is we won't go there if it's not because of her, but the more we read and learned about the place the more excited we became.

Max was not feeling well the day before so we thought going to the zoo may cheer him up. We stayed at the rental condo nearby the Waikiki Beach and the zoo is about 6 minutes walk from our rental.
Useful tips: wear hat, bring sunblock, water bottle, and lunch. There's a nice large shaded area where we can sit down and have a picnic/ lunch. 

The beautiful flamingos are among the first creatures to welcome us

The majestic giraffe

This was interesting, who know fire is a friend to grasses

The Aldabra tortoises

This guy showed up when we were eating lunch in the park

The zoo was small, well kept, with good variety of animals, which makes someone really happy.

Next stop: Pearl Harbor

Visiting Pearl Harbor was on the top of my list. The boys have been learning about World War II, how it got started, how American decided to join, and so on. We knew there would be memorial sites but I didn't expect how big the place is. There were a lot of tour that we can take but due to our limited time (we arrived at 2 pm and the place closed at 5 pm) we just walked around the sites and museum.  

 The Arizona memorial was built on top of USS Arizona as reminder of that dark day.

Important note: The programs at the USS Arizona Memorial are from 8:00am to 3:00pm. You may enter Pearl Harbor after 3:00 pm, but you will not be able to go to the Arizona Memorial so at least come before 2:30 pm. Prepare to give yourself at least 2-3 hours especially if you are a history buff.