We just got back yesterday from our short getaway to Gettysburg - worst getaway ever.
It started off well. The hotel was really nice and I was feeling like we would be comfortable there. We were excited to be away from home and just doing whatever. I was excited about not having to prepare and clean up meals (I've really been struggling with these tasks lately). We got settled in and then drove out to the visitor's center to pick up a map and drive around to explore what we might want to do the next day. We picked up a pizza and headed back to the hotel to enjoy the rest of the evening watching Pawn Stars (cable!) and playing Yahtzee.
The next morning we headed back to the battlefield area. The morning weather was perfect and we wanted to walk around, see the monument and area where Lincoln gave the Gettysburg Address and such. Right at the entrance gate we were shocked to see a no pets allowed sign. I had done all kinds of research before the trip because we would be traveling with our dog, Lucy. Everything I found told the same story, the park was open to dog but you couldn't bring them into any of the museums or into the visitor center. That makes sense, the dogs can come but have to stay outside. The only part of the park that we really wanted to walk around, see and take pictures didn't allow dogs - so why was there no mention of this before you reach the gates to walk in?!?
But wait, it gets much worse. Outside the gate, there was another groomed and paved path to some monuments and an old house that was used as a hospital back in the day so we went that way. We stayed on the path and were probably outside for about a 1/2 hour. On the way back to the car I noticed a small black spot on our dog's very light colored fur. My husband checked it out as I am VERY fearful of bugs and discovered that it was a tick. While he was down there he discovered several others. When we got back to the car he searched her again for ticks and we searched ourselves. Having found no further hitchhikers we got in, picked up some lunch and headed back to the hotel. Having consumed our lunch my husband decided to check her again and found 3 more ticks in the small hidden area between her toes. Later in the afternoon when we went downtown to walk around we found one crawling around in the car.
The trip was officially ruined. We spent the rest of our time there obsessing about the ticks. In all we ended up capturing 8 ticks and we still don't know how many are still hanging out in my car.
On our way home we stopped at the vet's office to make sure that a couple small spots on her skin were not ticks and the vet insisted that we test her for tick diseases even though she hadn't been bitten (probably because of the flea/tick meds we give her). I still don't believe it is possible that, even if she had been bitten, that any disease was going to be showing up in her blood already but not knowing for sure I sort of had to trust the vet. He wouldn't answer my questions about the ticks, which continue to be a problem because I don't know how many jumped off her in the car. Instead the vet wanted to push a bunch of blood tests to test her for heart disease, diabetes and such - not because she isn't feeling well but because she is an older dog. It is hundreds of Dollars for these tests and there is no reason to suspect that anything is wrong with her - plus we bought her in to address the tick situation and we are not getting that address properly as it is not going to be as profitable as these blood tests.
We got home and were both more stressed than when we left. Plus the whole thing ended up costing more than we had budgeted for because of the visit to the vet. I've never seen so many ticks and what gets me is that we didn't go anywhere remote. We stayed on the wide paved path, didn't go near tree lines, or into tall grass. How did so many ticks get on her?
sigh
