We were due for a big family vacation last year, which, of course turned into the never-ending-staycation of the pandemic. Our Bermuda cruise was canceled, and considering the state of the world, it didn’t seem wise to reschedule it at that time. As we faded into fall, we started to realize that this summer would absolutely require some sort of break from the monotony, and we would need a definitive “going away from here” vacation. We also needed something that regardless of the state of the world, we could be reasonably sure would happen.

We started examining our options. Based on the fact that we wanted as few interactions with people and we needed to take our dog with us, we were already pretty limited. My main requirement was that most of my time would be spent sitting on my butt reading the most trashy novels I could find, soaking up the sun, and maybe a few adult beverages. Naturally, this did not appeal to the kids, as they wanted something a little bit more exciting, and of course, the WH had his own ideas about the kinds of wild adventures we could chase down with what we decided would be a full two-week break from all the action.

We talked about renting an RV and driving somewhere, stopping to check out historic and other points of interest, but that seemed to be a little bit too people-y for our taste at this point. As we started looking into hotels, we were surprised at how many were already booked for the summer months. Apparently, everyone had the same ideas that we did. Additionally, most of them did not accept dogs either.

Next, we started looking into Air­bnb and VRBO options. This was completely new to both the WH and me, and we’d heard some awesome stories from our friends and some nightmares. Knowing our track record, I was placing bets on us scoring a sweet deal and having it turn into some kind of nightmare scenario that involved a serial killer, a roach motel or some combination of the two of them. We decided that we didn’t want to spend most of our vacation driving, and a cottage or a cabin on some sort of water would probably satisfy everyone’s hopes and dreams for Vacation 2021.

We landed on the perfect destination state: Maine. Both of us had spent a significant amount of time in different parts of Maine over the years, and we agreed that it was far enough away to feel like vacation, but close enough that we could manage the drive. That’s where being on the same wavelength stopped. The WH’s favorite parts of Maine were farther inland, in the Moosehead Lake area. My favorite parts were the southern beach areas, like Ogunquit and Kennebunk. When the kids heard there was no boardwalk in either place, they stopped caring which way we went.

In the end, we decided to split the difference and drive part of the way to Moosehead and spend a few days in my old haunts, and then drive the rest of the way, and spend the end of our vacation at Moosehead. We planned a busy few days doing a small amount of sightseeing at mostly outdoor places, and then a few days of sitting at the lake doing next to nothing other than what we wanted to.

E started a countdown to Moose­head, giving us monthly updates, then weekly, and then finally down to days. Even though we were looking at a few days on the road together, and a few more days in a cabin on a lake, everyone was looking forward to a change of scenery. Even the dog seemed to sense that change was afoot.

So, of course, this is right about when things started to go south. First of all, our first stop was booked through VRBO and they stopped responding to any of our messages. We had some last-minute concerns about the dog, as well as some other questions, and it was just crickets. Since this was our first time using VRBO, and we were still within the cancellation window, we decided to cancel and take our chances booking directly through another dog friendly hotel. Luckily, the cancellation seemed to go off without a hitch.

The next bit of excitement happened when the WH took the boat out on its trailer for a trial run. He made it about 5 miles before a piece of the trailer that he suspected was weak did, in fact, buckle. Over the last year, “the boat” has practically become part of the family and it was inconceivable that we’d go without it. Thanks to an incredibly good friend, and the boat supply store having exactly the right piece in stock, the WH managed to get everything back in order. Our vacation seemed determined to make us appreciate every single last bit of it before we even left home.

I felt like we already had two strikes against us, and I nervously waited for the third strike to take us out and sentence us to a long summer at home. So, it was with great relief that we finally pulled out of the driveway, with the boat in tow, only 12 hours later than we had hoped, and as the first spatters of rain from the remnants of Tropical Storm Elsa started to hit the windshield. Vacation 2021 was shaping up to be just another misadventure of 2020-2021. Tune in next week to see what else could possibly go wrong.

Liz Pinkey is a contributing writer to the Times News. Her column appears weekly in our Saturday feature section.