Please note that there has been a request for a more precise itinerary and since I am new to this blogging endeavor I feel compelled to comply (a colleague threatened to flame me!). So, here goes:

Monday, July 24 - Boothbay Harbor, Maine
Tuesday, July 25 – Bar Harbor, Maine
Wednesday, July 26 (three nights) – Digby, Nova Scotia
Saturday, July 29 (base camp for two weeks) – Malignant Cove, Nova Scotia (named for a British man-of-war that lies sunken off the coast)
Friday, August 4 – Prince Edward Island
Sunday, August 6 (two nights) – Ingonish, Cape Breton Highlands
Saturday, August 12 – Campobello Island, New Brunswick
Sunday, August 13 (three nights) – Millinocket, Maine

All told, we will be traveling about 3,000 miles by car. So I’ve come up with a little contest (both for you and me). How much do you think we will be spending on gas during our little road trip? My guess: a lot of friggin’ dough. 72 bucks to fill this puppy up, and she needs to be fed every 300 miles or so. I will keep a careful accounting of every dollar spent on fuel, and will award a prize to the person who comes closest with their estimate. We drive a HEMI powered cobalt blue Dodge Durango with a Thule roof rack. It averages about 12 miles per gallon on the highway. The prize will be a spectacularly cheesy souvenir from somewhere in Canada (should be easy to find, eh?)

One final note from today: Laura, my wife, is asking really dumb and exceedingly annoying questions about the trip. A sample:

“How is this all going to fit in the car?”
“How many bags should I pack for the children?”
“We’re not leaving too early in the morning, are we?”
“What should they wear to dinner?”
“Why do you have so many fishing poles?”
“How long will we be driving?”
“We don’t have enough suitcases.” Okay, that’s a statement.
“My suitcase isn’t big enough.” Okay, that’s another statement.
“Are we going to unpack the car every time we arrive at a new destination?”

Jee-zus. It’s like the vacation inquisition. The truth: husbands are not prepared to answer these kinds of questions. They will never be prepared to answer these kinds of questions. So wives, please stop asking them.