Whatever you do...

If you go to O'ahu, Hawaii, and you get a chance, go to the botanical forest.  Do it, it's beautiful.

If you go to the rainforest, by all means, stop and read the signs.

If you stop and read all the signs, make sure you follow the ones pointing you to the waterfall.

If you head towards the waterfall, make sure you stop and appreciate the plants

This is not the waterfall, it's just on the way

But you'll get to the waterfall shortly after the paradise lua, and they are in no way linked...

 

And if you have decided to walk out to the waterfall, definitely swim out to the base of it

The water is a bit chilly at first, but by the time you get to the base, it is really nice.

If you decide to go to O'ahu and visit the botanical forest, and walk the paths, and read the signs, and admire the plants, and bypass the Paradise lua and find the waterfall, and swim to the base of the waterfall and walk back, by all means, do it, it will be great!

Whatever you do, though-and this is very important!- WHATEVER you do, DON'T forget the BUG REPELLANT!

 

This photo was taken a few days after the bites were bit, and they were less angry that day.  I was bit 21 times!  Laura... well, she stopped counting after she reached 25.  They itched horribly. I had flashback memories of what the height of my chickenpox felt like.  We used a CVS anti-itch spray(active ingredient: benadryl, I think), benadryl name brand ointment, ice, AfterBite ointment, and finally-in an act of total desperation- Biofreeze(that would be the stronger, icier, and hotter cousin of IcyHot intended for muscle pain).  As my cousin-in-law, Patrick, put it after using Biofreeze on his bug bite, "That feels...better...  well, not so much better...but different.  It burns."  At that point, for Laura and I, the burning was more tolerable, and the temporary numbness was well worth the burning consequences.

Hawaii was fun. I really enjoyed the botanical forest and the waterfall.  The moral of this story? Well, there are actually two.  1) Whatever you do, don't forget the bug spray.  And 2) If you do, well... Biofreeze burns, and sometimes burning is preferable to itching.

Thanks for reading.