Originally published: 8/3/2003; 12:05:22 AM

Last day in Hawaii and Christy and I are ready to see the kids. We took advantage of our free breakfast buffets at the Surf Room in the hotel, right on Waikiki Beach.

After that, we headed to Perl Harbor. The line was long but it moved fast. After we picked up our tickets (arrived at 9:00–tour was at 10:40. Tickets usually run out by 1:00 or so) we were just in time to listen to a special program on the lawn over looking the harbor. It was given by the park’s historian who also happens to be the host of the Discovery Channel’s “Unsolved History” program. Apparently, he speaks a couple of times a week. He gave a great talk detailing what it was like before, during, and after the attack.

We then watched the film, boarded the boat, and visited the USS Arizona Memorial in the harbor. Similar to OKC, there’s not a lot to look at–it’s more of a place of reflection.

The Missouri and the Bowfin sub looked interesting, but we were hot, tired, and were running out of time. We headed back to the Royal, stopped off at Aloha Tower for lunch, retrieved our bags, and headed for home.

Bottom-line on Oahu:

The city and the island seem worthy of more than the 24 hours we gave it, even with the crowds and traffic. We didn’t have time to do Diamond Head, the North Shore, or just hang out on Waikiki Beach, all of which we would have liked to do had we more time.

The Royal Hawaiian is worth the splurge.