To the edge

Living on an island makes it very easy to visually get to the edge of the map. However, I've found that Ka'ena Point State Park, to me, truly feels like the edge of the map. Partially I'm sure, due to the fact that the road gets smaller and smaller until it literally just peters off here: 

It has a distinctly different feel than the rest of the Island. It is one of those beautifully lonely places.

Here is a panorama looking back down the island, The vog made it very hazy : /
(click it to see it full screen)

Richard spent much of his time beach combing

I was busy checking out the plants.

Paa 'u-o-Hi'iaka (a type of woody Morning Glory)

'Ilima:



This lovely purple trumpet flower wasn't in my book, but it looks like it may be related to Snapdragons :

Hmm these look like tomato flowers:

And hey, look, baby tomatoes.
Wait... WHAT? Growing wild? In Oahu?!



They looked and smelled just like tomatoes.. But I have no idea what they really are. I almost tried to eat one, but my overall dislike of tomatoes and general fear of being poisoned by an unfamiliar plant made me change my mind.
Look at how tiny it is though:

I don't know if I have mentioned it before but the bumble bees here are MASSIVE! Every time I see one I have to do a double take. Usually the ones we see are black, but here we found a huge yellow one:

I decided to to some research. Turns out these are not bumble bees. They are 'Sonoran carpenter bees. The female is black, and rather large, approximately one inch in length. They can sting when angry but are considered shy and rarely bother humans. The male bees are golden brown in color and lack a stinger. They inhabit the Hawaiian Islands, the Marianas, China, Japan, New Guinea and the Philippines.' -Nick Sakovich

I'm pretty sure the ones here get near 1 1/2 inches, but they never hold still long enough for me to measure them. It was almost impossible to get these pictures!

Cool note, those purple trumpet flowers have a side access so the bees can get to the nectar without having to fit all the way down the trumpet.

I'm going to have to play with my camera speeds and/my tripod to see if I can get a shot of the black ones... maybe even with something to compare size for you!

Speaking of tripods, Katie got me this awesome type called a gorilla pod. It is awesome!

It looks like this:

and can do this:

It has been incredible and I highly recommend it! (also I use it all the time as a tablet stand.)

Anyways back on track

Here is  a picture of a female from wiki with some ants to try and help gauge size:

Don't you just love those wings! I really want to find a dead one, I know that sounds weird, but they never hold still and I just want to see them up close and feel its fur... 

They need to invent something that will temporarily stun insects so you can look at them with out them being dead. Then I wouldn't have to hope to find a dead one, or chase after the live ones calling

"Hold Still! Wait Come Back! I wont eat you I promise! I just want to look at you.. and maybe touch you a little!"