By the numbers: 14 days, four provinces, six states, and 3,787.4 miles

Our Nova Scotia road trip came to its glorious end when we arrived home on Friday, June 16, close to midnight, after a very long drive of more than 700 miles from Bar Harbor, Maine, to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. All of us took turns driving home (a shout out to Conor who did some great driving in the Worcester, Massachusetts, area). We made two stops, one for breakfast at Phil & Jeanne's in Vassalboro, Maine, and one for dinner at the Pompton Queen Diner in Pompton Plains, New Jersey.

Though, by the sheer numbers alone, not as impressive as our Grand Canyon road trip in 2013 or our Yellowstone road trip in 2016, the Nova Scotia road trip was nevertheless a grand success by all accounts. We traveled a total of 3,787.4 miles, through four Canadian provinces - Quebec, New Brunswick, Prince Edward Island, and Nova Scotia - and five states - New York, Maine, New Hampshire, Massachusetts, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania. Our longest driving day was the last, and our shortest driving day was the second in Montreal.

We visited four Canadian national parks - Prince Edward Island National Park, Cape Breton Highlands National Park, Kejimkujik National Park, and Fundy National Park - all of which alone would have been destinations in and of themselves and all of which were free in this year of Canada's 150th birthday. We also visited one U.S. national park - Acadia National Park in Maine. The highlight, of course, was the scenic Cape Breton Highlands, where we drove the winding and picturesque Cabot Trail and stayed in regal comfort at the Keltic Lodge. (Note: the New York Times has declared Canada the No. 1 destination for 2017 in its annual review of 52 places to go.)

We walked the streets and took in the sights and sounds of the sophisticated and cosmopolitan cities of Montreal and Old Quebec. We toured waterfalls and light houses, and saw a moose, deer, rivers, oceans, bays, and beaches. We paddled a scenic river, hiked through many nature trails, and labored 2.2 miles to the summit of Cadillac Mountain (1530 feet) in Acadia National Park. We saw lots of pretty churches and a few grand cathedrals. We feasted at many nice restaurants and traditional diners, some with pie, one of my favorite desserts, and some without.

Not least of all, we all managed to survive being cooped up together for 14 days straight, sharing the same hotel room every night and the same Toyota Prius V during the day. Thankfully, we all had access to iPhones and a multitude of podcasts to listen to.  We also listened to the many car mixes (aka mixtapes) which I had created for a 2008 trip to Disneyland in California.

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