Summer (August) trip to Eastern Canada from Central Illinois
  This is a two-week driving and camping trip to eastern Canada. It is designed for someone in central Illinois who has a two week vacation in August.  

Short Summary.

  Day 1 Leave Illinois and drive to Sarnia, Ontario Sarnia, ON
  Day 2 Visit Bayfield, and then drive to Toronto Toronto, ON
  Day 3 Day in Toronto Toronto, ON
  Day 4 Toronto and a drive to Montreal Montreal
  Day 5 Montreal and a drive to Quebec Quebec
  Day 6 Morning in Quebec and a drive to New Brunswick Fredericton, NB
  Day 7 Getting to Prince Edward Island Prince Edward Island National Park, PE
  Day 8 Day on Prince Edward Island Brudenell Provincial Park, PE
  Day 9 Getting from Prince Edward Island to Cape Breton Cape Breton Highlands National Park, NS
  Day 10 Day in Cape Breton Mira River Provencial Park, NS
  Day 11 Fortress Louisbourg and drive to New Brunswick Moncton, NB
  Day 12 Bay of Fundy and drive to Acadia National Park Acadia National Park, near Bar Harbor, ME
  Day 13 Acadia National Park and drive to Chelmsford or Littleton, MA Littleton, MA
  Day 14 Lexington and Concord, and then a drive to central Pennsylvania Black Moshannon State Park near State College, PA
  Day 15 Black Moshannon State Park and Cuyahoga National Park, then drive on to the shores of Lake Eire. Maumee Bay, near Toledo, OH
  Day 16 See Maumee Bay and glass in Toledo Art Museum. Home
 

See our list of trips.

Travel Resources Page

Full Description

  Day 1 Saturday

Depart on a Saturday morning. Depart at 9:00 am.
Cross a time zone in Indiana and lose an hour.
Drive to Stevensville, Michigan.
Arrive in Stevensville at 1:45 p.m. and buy gas and have lunch.
Visit Grand Mere State Park and take a hike or break for an hour or two.
Leave Grand Mere State Park by 4:30 p.m.
Stop for another break in either Kalamazoo (around 5:30 p.m.) or Lansing (around 6:45 p.m.)
After a 90 minute or so break in either Kalamazoo or Lansing for dinner and a look around, continue on to Sarnia.
Arrive in Sarnia at about 10:30 p.m. Check into hotel.

Sarnia, ON
  Day 2 Sunday

Depart Sarnia at about 10:30 a.m.
Arrive in Bayfield around noon. Have lunch and visit the beach there.
Depart Bayfield around 2:00 or 2:30, and drive east.
Stop for an ice cream in Varna just a few miles east of Bayfield.
Arrive in Toronto around 7:00 p.m. and have dinner there.

Toronto, ON

Banting House Inn or Downtown Home Inn
  Day 3 Monday Day in Toronto Second night in Toronto
  Day 4 Tuesday Morning in Toronto. Leave Toronto around 2:00 p.m., and drive about 6.5 hours to Montreal, arriving there at 8:30 p.m. Montreal.
  Day 5 Wednesday Morning in Montreal. Depart Montreal around 3:30 p.m., and arrive in Quebec at about 6:30 p.m. Quebec City
  Day 6 Thursday

Morning in Quebec City
Depart Quebec City around 1:00 p.m.
Arrive in Rivière-du-Loup around 3:30 p.m.
Depart Rivière-du-Loup around 4:30 p.m. Cross time zone and lose an hour as we cross into New Brunswick.
Arrive in Woodstock, New Brunwick around 9:15 p.m. Have dinner there.
Depart Woodstock around 10:00 p.m.
Arrive in Fredericton, NB at 11:30 p.m., and spend the night there.

Fredericton, NB
  Day 7 Friday Depart Fredericton at 10:30 a.m.
Arrive in Moncton at 12:45 p.m. Have lunch there.
Depart Moncton at 2:00 p.m.
Arrive in Kensington, PE at 4:00 p.m. That allows time to see the Anne of Green Gables Museum.
After seeing the museum in Kensington, drive on 15 minutes to Cavendish. Camp there in the National Park.
 Cavendish Campground, Prince Edward Island National Park, PE
  Day 8 Saturday

Morning to hike and enjoy Prince Edward Island National Park. See Green Gables in Cavendish and Avonlea Village. Head over to Greenwich section of the national park around 2:00 p.m.
Arrive at Greewich around 4:00 and spend the rest of the day there.
At around 7:00 drive down to Charlottetown.
Arrive in Brudenell Provincial Park at 7:40, set up tent and camp.

Brudenell Provincial Park, PE
  Day 9 Sunday Depart the Brudenell Provincial Park by 8:30 a.m. Go to Charlottetown.
Arrive in Charlottetown at 9:30 a.m. Look around until 11:30 a.m.
Depart Charlottetown at 11:30 a.m. and head south to Wood Islands Ferry.
Get the 1:00 p.m. Wood Islands Ferry to Caribour, Nova Scotia.
Arrive in Nova Scotia at 2:35. Drive north to Chéticamp campground in Cape Breton National Park, arriving there around 6:45 p.m.		 Chéticamp Campground in Cape Breton National Park, NS
  Day 10 Monday

Morning hike and explore the Cape Breton Highlands National Park.
Depart the campground at 10:00 a.m.
Arrive in Sydney at 5:00 p.m. Have dinner there.
Head south to Mira River Provincial Park

 Mira River Provincial Park in Cape Breton Island, Nova Scotia
  Day 11 Tuesday

Depart Mira River Provincial Park at 9:30 a.m.
Visit the Fortress Louisbourg from 10:00 a.m. until 3:00 p.m.
Depart Fortress Louisbourg and drive south to Truro, Nova Scotia.
Stop in Truro around 7:30 and have dinner and a break there. Buy gas.
Continue on at 8:30 toward Moncton, New Brunswick.
Arrive in Moncton around 10:30 and get a hotel room.

Moncton, NB
  Day 12 Wednesday Depart Moncton around 9:00 a.m.
Stop in Saint John, NB at 11:00 for a break and lunch. Continue on at 1:00 p.m.
Cross into the United States and gain an hour crossing into Eastern Time.
Arrive at Acadia National Park at 4:00 p.m. Visit the visitor center.
 Blackwoods Campground, Acadia National Park, ME
  Day 13 Thursday Hike and drive around Acadia National Park all morning.
Depart the National Park at 1:00 p.m.
Stop for a break and a look at the Maine State House in Augusta around 3:20 in the afternoon.
Depart Augusta around 5:00 p.m. Arrive in Chemlsford, MA at about 7:45 p.m.
 Radisson Hotel and Suites in Chelmsford, MA
  Day 14 Friday Morning to visit Concord and Lexington. Depart at 11:00 a.m. heading westward. Stop for a 30 minute break along the way. Arrive at Black Moshannon State Park near State College, PA at about 7:00 p.m. Set up the tent and camp for the night.
 Moshannon State Park, near State College, PA
  Day 15 Saturday

Morning to enjoy Moshannon State Park. Depart there at about noon.
Drive west to Cuyahoga Valley National Park south of Cleveland. Arrive there by 4:00 p.m. Take a couple hours to enjoy the national park, and continue on at 6:00 p.m. Arrive at Maumee Bay Lodge near Toledo, Ohio around 8:00 p.m.

Maumee Bay Lodge in Maumee Bay State Park, near Toledo, OH
  Day 16 Sunday Morning to enjoy Maumee Bay State Park and the Toledo Museum of Art with its Glass Pavilion. Leave Toledo around 2:00 p.m., heading west toward South Bend, Indiana and Chicago. Stop for an hour rest somewhere along the way, probably in South Bend. Gain an hour crossing a time zone from Eastern Time into Central Time. Arrive in Springfield at about 9:30 p.m.
 home

Cost analysis

 

Costs. I use dollars for the year I research costs and then convert those dollars into Myrfti units. A Myrfti is a sort of inflation-adjusted price. If you have 100 Myrfti, you have 1% of the median year-round full-time American worker's wage/salary. So, if the median year-round full-time American worker earns $50,000, a Myrfti is equal to $5, and 100 Myrfti are $500.

The dollar prices will soon be out-of-date, but the Myrfti prices should be close to what you would pay in any year. Just find the most recent median full-time year-round income for American workers, and divide that by 10,000 to find what 1 Myrfti is worth. Then, once you have that figure, multiply it times the Myrfti costs to get an estimate for the current dollar price of the trip.
For this trip, the two-person prices assume an adult couple sharing a bed, and the four-person costs assume a family of four with two children aged between 12 and 17.
  cost type Cost Item Description
Cost in 2012 US$
Cost in % Myrfti for U.S.
  Gas costs Gas for the trip. The total distance is 4,440 miles. I'll say that is $860 (car getting 20 mpg and gas costing $3.88 per gallon)

2 persons $860
4 persons $860

 2 persons 863
4 persons 863
  Vehicle costs Wear and tear on a car and depreciation of a car. By my calculations, the non-gas costs in loss of value or wear and tear on a vehicle is about 20.5¢ per mile in 2011. Much of this cost is not realized until one sells the car or takes it in for maintenance at a date long after the trip.

2 persons $700
4 persons $700

 2 persons 173
4 persons 173
  Lodging without camping I haven’t calculated all the lodging costs yet.

2 persons $1.800
4 persons $1,860

2 persons 364
4 persons 375
  Lodging with campgrounds

I haven’t calculated all the lodging costs yet.

2 persons $1,440
4 persons $1,480
2 persons 291
4 persons 299
  Admissions and parking.

Need to research this.

2 persons $695
4 persons $1,068
2 persons 141
4 persons 216
  Food For the whole trip.
The assumption here is that in the 16 days of travel there will be 5 days of expensive meals ($40 per person per day), 5 days of moderate priced meals ($28 per person per day), and 6 days of inexpensive food from grocery stores eaten as picnics or fast food meals ($16 per day).

2 persons $904
4 persons $1,808
2 persons 183
4 persons 365
  Total Costs

I haven’t calculated these yet.

Camping:

2 persons $4,234
4 persons $5.551

 

Without Camping:

2 persons $4,594
4 persons $5,931

Camping:

2 persons 855
4 persons 1,121

 

Without Camping:

2 persons 928
4 persons 1,198
   

Comments

To afford a vacation like this every two years, a typical family budget for a family earning 120% of the median year-round full-time income ($59,400 would be 120% of about the median income of $49,500 in 2011, which happened to be close to the median household income) might allocate money in this way each month:

Housing and utilities: 27.7% ($1370 per month)
All taxes: 16% ($790 per month)
Car expenses (gas, insurance, maintenance, purchasing): 12% ($595 per month)
Groceries, food, and household supplies: 10% ($495 per month)
Savings for a trip like this every two years: 5.8% ($290 per month)
Savings for a bigger trip every three years: 5.2% ($260 per month)
Savings for retirement: 5% ($250 per month)
Savings for children's college expenses: 5% ($250 per month)
Health insurance and health care expenses: 5% ($250 per month)
Charitable giving: 2.3% ($114 per month)
Miscellaneous other expenses: 2% ($100 per month)
Clothing: 2% ($100 per month)
Other entertainment, Internet, cable television, movies, etc.: 2% ($100 per month)