Headed out at 9am to catch TheBus to Pearl Harbor - which turned out to be a long wait for a very crowded bus, the previous one never turned up so everyone wanted the same one as us. At least it was cheap, $7.50 for the 4 of us.

Having spent the past 10 days in a news and media vacuum we weren't aware of the US Federal Govt shutdown affecting all 'non-essential services', due to their inability to agree on a budget for their 800,000 employees, i.e. RIDICULOUS!! Really feel for the employees who aren't getting paid while the big shots stuff around. All of this meant the USS Arizona Memorial and the USS Bowfin (submarine) were closed, but lucky for us the Pacific Aviation Museum and USS Missouri are run by non-profit organisations and were still operating - yay!

I can pretty much sum up 'Mighty Mo' with one word - AMAZING! Its massive, has impressive guns, and has been brought back into service several times in its 60 something year history. Its fired significant shots in historical conflicts, and was the host of the signing of the peace agreement between the Allied Forces and the Japanese to mark the literal end of World War 2. Nice work, Mo! We enjoyed a guided tour from one of the very knowledgeable staff, it turned it into quite an emotional and awe-inspiring visit to have someone tell us the significance of the enormous battleship.

After a thorough investigation of the below deck quarters and facilities we grabbed some excellent burgers from Sliders Grill right next to Mighty Mo on the wharf for lunch. Back on the bus for the short ride to the Pacific Aviation Museum, a great historical collection of aircraft from the past 75 years or so. The stories behind them and the battles they flew in are amazing. Some are restored to beautiful condition, some are wrecks, and there are talented men working on restorations right there in the hangar alongside helicopters and fighter jets.

We had some fun in the flight simulators, trying to shoot down the enemy with mixed success - Cody and Chay got 6 each, Leo and I scored a nice big donut - 0! Pretty sure I spent more time upside down miles up in the clouds than anything else, along with a spectacular crash landing. Don't ask me to land a plane in an emergency lol!

Another long bus ride back to Waikiki, this time through Chinatown where a large number of homeless people seem to congregate and pass the time together.

After a 'fridge clean out' dinner (i.e. clearing out what we've got!), we left the boys watching movies to walk down into Waikiki to Cha Cha Cha in Seaside Ave where we met up with Shane, our surfing buddy from last week in Hanalei, in town for a couple of days. The margaritas at Cha Cha Cha are great! Kind of seems weird that all the designer stores were open and doing a roaring trade at 10pm as we walked back to our hotel, I guess as long as the people are there they'll stay open.