Thursday, May 26, 2011

Rocky Neck State Park

If you click on the picture you can almost see Long Island in the distance
Yesterday was an absolutely gorgeous day, so we decided to take a trip over to Rocky Neck State Park for a little fun in the sun.  Let me just say that this place is huge!  There's a beach, open fields, hiking, wooded camping - you name it they have it.  Since they also have great little cookout spots by the water we decided to get some chicken, a soccer ball, and some BBQ sauce and get grilling! :)
Colin showing off his smooth soccer moves
One thing we didn't plan for was the ticks.  Of course I've heard about the connection between Lyme, CT and Lyme Disease, and beware of tick signs are pretty much everywhere, but we didn't think we had to worry about it at this beach/park.  Boy were we wrong!  We spent about an hour getting the grill ready and kicking around the soccer ball before we sat down to read in the sun and eat our lunch.  Since I'm practically transparent, Colin insisted we choose the only picnic table under a giant (yet low hanging) shady tree.  The minute I sat down I saw a tick on my arm.  Of course I immediately brushed it off and spent the next 10 minutes trying to convince Colin it really was a tick.  After that I pretty much refused to sit down in the grass. 
The picnic area and giant pavilion
A few minutes later Colin was standing under the tree eating and I saw a tick on his shirt!  He threw it in the fire an apologized for spending all that time calling me crazy earlier.  We decided since two in less than half an hour was probably a bad sign, and we knew little to nothing about ticks, we would pack up and head home.  Believe it or not, we saw one more tick on Colin's arm while we packed our stuff up.  It was just crazy.

Of course as soon as we got back I spent the rest of the afternoon ingesting everything the internet has to offer on the Connecticut tick population.  Luckily, we're pretty sure the ones we saw were Lone Star ticks known for living close to the water (and in trees!) on the Connecticut coast and do not carry Lyme Disease! 

After everything I guess I can say it was an educational experience, but next time we'll be at the beach instead of the soccer field. 

1 comment:

  1. The first thing I thought of when you said you guys went hiking was, I hope you checked yourself and each other for ticks! I didnt mention it but then here you are talking about them! Yuck! Its like one of the hardest/most expensive tests they have to test for Lyme and such a hassle. Rash/no rash, positive/false positive, negative/false negative. I dunno why they even test for it, just give me the antibiotics so I can be on my way! lol Well it did sound like a good plan. I must say I've never seen Beware of Ticks signs ever!

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