And perhaps the best of all is that this 17 day trip (July 21 - August 6) begins in Greenville, with other pick-up locations throughout northern and eastern Maine. Another special feature is the fact your tour guides are intimately familiar with Newfoundland and Labrador, and will take you places many tours don't go.

In addition to luxury tour bus transportation, many meals are included, as well as extensive sightseeing, admissions to a host of national parks, museums, lighthouses, an eagle and whale watch boat trip, live entertainment and accommodations at three star hotels. In fact, there will be a special performance for our group by one of Atlantic Canada's best-known folk music groups, the Sharecroppers, on our first night in Corner Brook, Newfoundland.

They will introduce our group to the music and tales of life on "The Rock," as Newfoundland is often called. After an included lunch the first day in St. Andrews-by-the-Sea, New Brunswick, the tour will overnight in Moncton, New Brunswick, then travel on the Baddeck, Nova Scotia. In Baddeck, the group will attend the Baddeck Gathering Ceilidh, a Cape Breton kitchen party musical event. There will be a total of four ferry crossings, the first coming when the group leaves North Sydney for a six hour crossing to Port-aux-Basques, Newfoundland. A full day and two nights will be spent in Corner Brook, with a local step-on guide providing a tour of the city and Bay of Islands, including the picturesque Blow-Me-Down Mountains. The next day will include a lighthouse visit, and several stops along the rocky western shore of Newfoundland in the Long Range Mountains as well as Gros Morne National Park. A ferry crossing of the Strait of Belle Isle in the Gulf of St. Lawrence (known as "iceberg alley") will bring the group to Labrador, where we'll travel to Red Bay for a visit to a Basque whaling museum. Overnight will be at the Northern Lights Inn in L'Anse-au-Clair, Labrador where an included dinner will feature caribou as well as other northern delicies.

Back on The Rock, the group will visit L'Anse-aux-Meadows, the northernmost point in Newfoundland and the site of the first Viking settlement in North America. We'll also visit the Sir Wilfred Grenfell Museum before having an included supper and dinner threatre at "Leifsburdir," a Viking sod house in St. Anthony. Then it's on to Grand Falls for a visit to the salmonid interpretation center and Mary March Museum to learn about the Beothuk Indians. The next day will include a codfishing industry demonstration at Twillingate, a visit to Long Point Lighthouse, and an eagle watch boat trip in Newman Sound within Terra Nova National Park. A visit to the Avalon Peninsula, including the villages of Heart's Delight, Heart's Desire and Heart's Content, will include a visit to the cable relay station and Harbour Grace. Two nights will be spent in St. John's, the provincial capital and, prior to 1949, the national capital of Newfoundland.

We'll have a tour of St. John's with a local guide, including Signal Hill and the Cabot Tower, then a trip down the peninsula to Witless Bay and Trepassey. The next day it's on to Marystown and the historic Burin Peninsula, then back to Gander for more museums and sightseeing, as well as an iceberg-watching trip along the northern shore. Eventually, we'll wind up back in Port-aux-Basques and a ride on the MV "Caribou" back to Nova Scotia.

With cruises, ferry crossings and visits to several United Nations World Heritage Sites, this breathtaking 17 day vacation features the best of Newfoundland and Labrador, plus scenic adventures in Nova Scotia and New Brunswick. The trip will have two veteran Newfoundland and Labrador tour guides, Everett and Janet Parker, owner of Northland Tours. "The key here is the fact we'll be going places a lot of tours don't, meeting the people, looking for icebergs and whales, and seeing points of interest that are off the beaten path," Everett Parker said. The cost is $2,195 per person, based on double occupancy. Deadline for reservations is April 30, 2006, and must be secured with deposit. Because of the remoteness of this trip, a maximum of 35 people will be accepted. Reservations must be made immediately by contacting Northland Tours, 719 Moosehead Lake Rd., Greenville, ME 04441, or email at eparker@midmaine.com.