The morning started out with breakfast at the hotel with a wonderful view of the water. After that, we pretty much just relaxed near the beach with a book and a coffee for most of the day. Today is really the last day we’ll have mostly free time.
This evening, the tour kicked off with a cocktail hour followed by dinner on the lawn of the hotel overlooking the ocean. It was a great start to our tour and already we’ve met some very interesting folks. Some of the attendees are like Gregg, who live and breathe WWII history. Others are like me, accompanying their spouses, but ready to get started and learn some history. But everyone we met was very nice and we look forward to getting to know some of them better.
At the dinner, the WWII vets who are on the tour were introduced to standing ovations. It will be an interesting time to spend with them over the next two weeks. I’m sure they have plenty of stories to tell.
Tomorrow starts bright and early with breakfast and then we’re off to the USS Missouri, the Aviation Museum and the USS Arizona Memorial at Pearl Harbor. It will be a long (and hot) day, but should be incredibly interesting. We’ve been to these places before, but never with a group or guided narration. For now, we’ve got to get to bed. Thank goodness we’re still not totally acclimated to the time difference, because 6am is going to come quickly.
~Dawn
