Some places come with a list of must-see sites,expectations of doing requisite things. These are readily identified well before arrival, by the volumes of people asking in declarative sentences – you will see x?  And so it was on Oahu:

.              Pearl Harbor Memorial:       Extolled by many and honourably presented.       For me, it was yet another spot on the globe where humanity was tossed aside for a time – thinking of Cambodia, the Dirty War in Argentina, the Vietnam War and all the current warfare – it's just very sad.   

Everywhere we drove sharp volcanic mountains and ridges surround us and I imagined seeing the 300 Japanese planes zooming inland between the peaks of this 600 sq mi island – how scary and initially bemusing that would be.   Sent in two waves, blitzing from all directions, they would have enveloped the island in deafening engine roar.    The entire island was targeted – every airfield, every ship - making Pearl Harbor a bit of a misnomer.   For those planes heading to the Harbor, they came in low (30 m above land) because their torpedoes had to be dropped at a precise height to allow them to sink, then rise a bit thanks to specially designed fins that would bring them to the exact level of the hulls of the US Navy’s fleet .   One plane goes by us on the beach and the sound rumbles – can’t imagine 300 over 2 hours.

The bombing changed warfare from ship-based tactics to air forever – the US navy doesn’t have one battleship now, all aircraft carriers.

.              Honolulu:      If you ask where a restaurant is, the answer is likely "in town" – not in our local town, but in Honolulu.     Town wraps around the south shoreline, compressed high-rises and all the high-end shopping (think of all the ads in magazines that have stores in New York, Paris, Montreal and Honolulu).     Enjoyed our self-propelled walking tour on a quiet Sunday morning, but what stood out was the site of gaggles of people sauntering on the sidewalks with their bikinis and trunks, the odd one with a surf board under arm.     And I thought cover-ups were de rigueur in beachwear.

.              Polynesian Cultural Center:         Forty acres of Polynesia rustic meets Disney polish .     Each island/country given its own real estate for huts, chieftain houses, or moai (for Easter Island) – a river running through it with double-hulled canoes transporting the likes of us from one end to the other.       The day is capped with a luau, including the pig wrapped in banana leaves and buried to cook all day in a natural smoker and a play production laden with spiritual metaphors.     Brigham Young U is next door, providing a willing workforce.   A consistent thread of Mormon theology woven into the programming, if my spidey senses were on point.

.              National Memorial Cemetary of the Pacific:      A pastoral site in the cavity of the Punchbowl volcanic crater.      A stunning view of town and Diamond Head.     Reminiscent of Arlington National in its military grooming of the grass and grounds, but more subtle as the stones are flat, ground level with flowers sprouting in vases.     

.              Dole Plantation:         Kitsch meets economics .        Pineapples matter in Hawaii, perhaps more in days of old than now, but the 40,000 people currently employed by the industry might argue with me on that.      The planation has a cheerful little train to cart you through the fields, explaining the crops and stages of development.      Did you know a pineapple plant can only produce fruit three times?        Really.       The world’s largest maze is here – more kitsch, in the shape of a you-know-what that kids love.         A short visit.   

Getting to all these spots was a bonus.     Considering we didn't have a map (or GPS), we got lost and found a few times and feel like we're old pros on Oahu.      

Requisites?     Done.