Summer (August) trip to Eastern Canada from Central Illinois

This is a three-week driving and camping trip to eastern Canada. It is designed for someone in central Illinois who has a three week vacation in August (or starting in early July).

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	Day in Montreal	Montreal
Day 6	Montreal and a drive to Quebec	Quebec
Day 7	Day in Quebec	Quebec
Day 8	Morning in Quebec and a drive to New Brunswick	Fredericton, NB
Day 9	Getting to Prince Edward Island	Prince Edward Island National Park, PE
Day 10	Day to enjoy relaxing on Prince Edward Island	Prince Edward Island National Park, PE
Day 11	Day on Prince Edward Island	Brudenell Provincial Park, PE
Day 12	Getting from Prince Edward Island to Cape Breton	Cape Breton Highlands National Park, NS
Day 13	Day to hang out in Cape Breton National Park.	Cape Breton Highlands National Park, NS
Day 14	Day in Cape Breton	Mira River Provencial Park, NS
Day 15	Fortress Louisbourg and drive to New Brunswick	Moncton, NB
Day 16	Bay of Fundy and drive to Acadia National Park	Acadia National Park, near Bar Harbor, ME
Day 17	Day to explore and enjoy Acadia National Park	Acadia National Park, near Bar Harbor, ME
Day 18	Acadia National Park and drive to Chelmsford or Littleton, MA	Littleton, MA
Day 19	Day to see Boston	Littleton, MA
Day 20	Day to see other places around Boston or see Boston again	Black Moshannon State Park, PA
Day 21	Black Moshannon State Park and Cuyahoga National Park, then drive on to the shores of Lake Eire.	Maumee Bay, near Toledo, OH
Day 22	See Maumee Bay and glass in Toledo Art Museum. Then drive home	Home

See our list of trips.

See another
three-week trip with camping in Canada.

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Full Description

Day 1	Saturday	Depart on a Saturday morning. Cross a time zone in Indiana and lose an hour. Drive to Stevensville, Michigan. Depart home at 9:00 am. 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. A room for 4 at the Hilton Garden Inn runs about 123 Myrftis for two nights	Toronto, ON Banting House Inn or Downtown Home Inn or Hilton Garden Inn Toronto City Center
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. Two nights at Hotel St-Denis (with parking) for four persons runs about 71 Myrftis for two nights	Montreal Hotel St-Denis.
Day 5	Wednesday	Day in Montreal	Montreal.
Day 6	Thursday	Morning in Montreal. Depart Montreal around 3:30 p.m., and arrive in Quebec at about 6:30 p.m. Two nights at Résidences Université Laval for four persons (two rooms) runs about 51 Myrftis for two nights	Quebec City Résidences Université Laval
Day 7	Friday	Day in Quebec	Quebec City
Day 8	Saturday	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. Stay at the Airport Inn (reviews) With taxes it costs about 16 Myrftis for 2 or 4.	Fredericton, NB
Day 9	Sunday	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. Entrance fees and two nights tent camping in the national park will cost about 17 Myrftis	Cavendish Campground, Prince Edward Island National Park, PE
Day 10	Monday	Day at Prince Edward Island National Park	Cavendish Campground, Prince Edward Island National Park, PE
Day 11	Tuesday	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 Greenwich around 4:00 and spend the rest of the day there. At around 7:00 drive down to Brudenell. Arrive in Brudenell Provincial Park at 7:40, set up tent and camp. Camping fees and entrance to Brudenell River Provincial Park will be about 6 Myrfti	Brudenell Provincial Park, PE
Day 12	Wednesday	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. Entrance fees and two nights tent camping in the national park will cost about 17 Myrftis	Chéticamp Campground in Cape Breton National Park, NS
Day 13	Thursday	Day to hike and explore Cape Breton National Park	Chéticamp Campground in Cape Breton National Park, NS
Day 14	Friday	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 Camping in Mira River Provincial Park will abe about 6 Myrfti	Mira River Provincial Park in Cape Breton Island, Nova Scotia
Day 15	Saturday	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. A night at Midtown Motel & Suiteswith a room for 4 persons will cost about 34 Myrfti.	Moncton, NB
Day 16	Sunday	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. It costs about 8 Myrfti to camp for two nights in Acadia National Park	Blackwoods Campground, Acadia National Park, ME
Day 17	Monday	Day in Acadia National Park	Blackwoods Campground, Acadia National Park, ME
Day 18	Tuesday	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. Two nightsfor four persons in Chelmsford at the Radisson will cost about 53 Myrfti.	Radisson Hotel and Suites in Chelmsford, MA
Day 19	Wednesday	Day in the Boston Area	Radisson Hotel and Suites in Chelmsford, MA
Day 20	Thursday	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 21	Friday	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. A night in the Maumee Bay State Park Lodge will cost about 36 Myrfti	Maumee Bay Lodge in Maumee Bay State Park, near Toledo, OH
Day 22	Saturday	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 2011 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
Food	Food costs, assuming a food budget of $25 per person per day	2 persons $1,100 4 persons $2,200	2 persons 222 4 persons 444
Lodging with campgrounds	Lodging expenses	2 persons $1,895 4 persons $2,330	2 persons 382 4 persons 471
Admissions and parking.	Costs for admissions, entrance fees, shopping, parking, tolls, the Wood Islands Ferry ride from Prince Edward Island to to Caribour, Nova Scotia, and other expenses.	2 persons $545 4 persons $1,060	2 persons 110 4 persons 214
Total	Total expenses excluding the wear and tear on the car For a family of four, this trip will cost about 13.1% of a median year-round full-time worker’s salary. For two persons the trip will cost about 8.9%	2 persons $4,400 4 persons $6,450	2 persons 888 4 persons 1303

Comments

Costs are reduced because the plan has travellers camping for 9 or 10 nights. If you don’t want to camp, you can find motels near each campground suggested, but the cost would increase by about $600, or about 121 Myrfti.

Budget to save up for this trip.

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), 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)