Triangle Cruise - Introduction

Introduction: About 7 years ago or so my husband decided that we should take a vacation and explore Canada on our boat.  He heard about "The Triangle Cruise" and was hooked.  Unfortunately during the past 8 years we have been in one of two states - time with no money (unemployed, kids in college, weddings to pay for) or money (employed with kids graduated and married) with no time (insufficient vacation time from work).  So every summer came and went and still The Triangle Cruise remained a long-term goal until this year!  In February we decided that we were both going to ask our employers if we could take 4 weeks vacation for our trip.  Amazingly we both got the "go ahead" response we were hoping for and have been truly planning for, i.e. not dreaming about, our trip ever since.

For those who don't know, "The Triangle Cruise" is an off-shoot segment of the Great Circle Loop and easily traveled as a separate destination which is our plan.  We live near Sandy Hook in Monmouth County, New Jersey.  Our trip encompasses the following route -
1) start at our home port near Sandy Hook
2) travel to New York Harbor and stay the night of 4th of July to see the Macy's fireworks display
3) continue up the Hudson River to the Erie Canal
4) navigate the Erie Canal to the Oswego Canal
5) cross Lake Ontario to Kingston, Canada
6) pass through Canada customs
7) explore the Rideau Canal heading for Ottawa, Canada
8) follow the Ottawa River to Montreal
9) take the St. Lawrence River to Sorel
10) start heading home via the Richelieu River / Chambly Canal to Lake Champlain
11) lock through the Champlain Canal to the Hudson River, and
12) end our trip back at our home port near Sandy Hook

Since this trip is the longest vacation cruise the captain and I have done together, and since I think the boating organization we belong too will be very interested in the details of our trip, I decided to create this blog to track our trip.  I'll start with the planning naturally and, once we start our cruise, make regular updates regarding our progress.