141) Gardens

Yesterday I wondered around until I found a botanical garden. I had a rough idea where it was, but I was by no means sure of it, and after a bus ride and some wondering, I found it.




The gardens where, as I expected, beautiful. I was surprised by the size of some of the trees there, they were huge! I was also surprised by the size of some of the leaves on certain types of palm trees. The leaves were at least 6 feet wide by 7 feet long, and probably longer. All in all, it was a beautiful escape from the hustle and bustle of Waikiki.

140) Diamond Head

"The most famous volcanic crater in the world is Diamond Head, located on the South-east Coast of O'ahu at the end of Waikiki overlooking the Pacific Ocean. It was originally named Laeahi by the ancient Hawaiians. The name meant "brow of the tuna" and looking at the silhouette of the crater from Waikiki, you can see the resemblance. The current name came was given to the crater by British sailors in the 1800's. When they first saw the crater at a great distance, the calcite crystals in the lava rock appeared to glimmer in the sunlight. The sailors mistakenly thought there must be diamonds in the soil. Diamond Head is a crater that has been extinct for 150,000 years. The crater is 3,520 feet in diameter with a 760-foot summit. When the United States annexed Hawaii in 1898, harbor defense became a main responsibility. One of the major defense forts, Fort Ruger, occupied the Diamond Head Crater. A battery of canons was located within the crater providing complete concealment and protection from invading enemies. An observation deck was constructed at the summit in 1910 to provide target sighting and a four level underground complex was built within the walls of the crater as a command post. A 580-foot tunnel was dug through the crater wall to provide easier access to the Fort." http://www.hawaiiweb.com/html/diamond_head.html

139) Silhouettes

138) Hawaii pictures (1)

Just some pics from the beaches.

137) HAWAII

So I got into Hawaii yesterday afternoon, not enough time to really do much. Today Paul, Mike and I went to the beach, played some frisbee, went swimming, I worked on my much needed tan, walked around, and then Paul and I tried to catch the sunset. We were a little later than we intended on being, but in the end it worked out nicely.

136) Some Sunset Shots

Here are some more pictures from behind my parents house. This field pretty consistently produces nice sunsets.

135) Heat Wave

The last couple days have been host to some bizarre weather. About a week or so ago, we got a bunch of snow, which was lasting until about yesterday, when the temperature rose to over 50.




This warm weather had been causing some pretty heavy fogging above the snowy areas. The fog reached it’s peak yesterday evening, I think because there was still a good amount of snow on the ground, and very warm temps.

134) Smokin' with Ian

I have been trying to get these pictures with Ian for a while now. The past couple days we had just been too lazy or forgot about it, but not tonight. We ended up taking a bunch of pictures, and a lot them turned out good, but here are some that I like the best so far. The second to last shot (of me) is one that Ian took.