I have to say that your itiniery is pretty packed. Just to get to MV from Boston is going to eat up a half of a day. I would cut out the overnight in Mystic and either spend more time on MV/the Cape or in Boston.

Hi Brutus,
That is indeed a jam packed itinerary as wyatt stated. I feel for you. We used to try to incorperate visiting relatives/freinds and doing some fun stuff when we lived in Ca. and would fly back to N.E.

Somehow it ended up that we would have to find ways of visiting everyone which proved to be exhausting. We eventually decided to find a decent location that we enjoyed and would ask them to come to us rather than us running around trying to see everyone and have a vacation.
Otherwise, you can think about scaling back on the number of places you pick.
Enjoy your trip!

If you do get to Mystic that Native American Museum at Foxwoods is wonderful. It's not too far from there. If you have been to other aquariums, I would do it instead of the aquarium .. but it's been years since I've been to the Seaport and Aquarium. On our last trip to Mystic we skipped those. If you get to Mystic I would head to Abbotts for a lobster roll. You'll need good directions. They've got a beautiful location on the water.
But, I agree you've got a lot packed into 7 days.

You could do all of that, but this seems more like running all about for a very quick look-see than a vacation.

If you want to visit Martha's Vineyard (a fabulous destination in Mid-May), do the family thing and then settle in a relax someplace.

I agree with Wyatt, this is a tightly packed itinerary - which is fine if that works for you - but I don't see where it really gives you time to enjoy most of your destinations.

You say you enjoy a variety of things, but it would be helpful in making suggestions for you if you could list some of your interests: b/c that would affect where we might suggest you cut or spend more time: ie; architecture, nature, museums, history/waterfront/maritime history/ outdoor activities, antiquing, etc.

If you fly into Logan, rent a car and drive to Woodshole (say a 90 minute drive) then are you planning on leaving your rental car in the parking lot (which is fine) and taking the shuttle to the ferry or are you interested in taking your car on the ferry (if so, you need to go to steamshipauthority.com and book a car reservation) - if not, you can go by foot w/out a reservation.

Still, after getting your luggage, rental car, driving to Woodshole (90 min), taking the ferry (40 min) , landing on MV, getting to your lodging, - you have eaten up a fair amount of your day. If you spend the night, and leave the next day, you won't have time to see much of the Vineyard at all. If you were going to spend another full day there, that is another matter.

And a full day with or without a car is soemthing to think about. Without a car, you would need to do one of the day tours of the island to see much of it, or just see the one town you are staying in by foot or perhaps bike - or would you rent mopeds to see what you can on your own?

Here is a thread with a lot of info about the different areas of the Vineyard to give you an idea of the possibilities there:
http://tinyurl.com/mfhue

Perhaps you are only interested in say, the gingerbread houses, tabernacle, etc in Oak Bluffs, or the Aquinnah/Gay Head area, or the shopping/harbor of Edgartown and Chappy gardens and beaches, or hiking, but it is hard to say without your personal preferences.

If you only have that remaining afternoon of day of arrival and one overnight, I would think of skipping the Vineyard (unless you are up for enjoying the ferry ride and one area of the vineyard, and heading out again) and spend more time on the Cape or opt for another night on the Vineyard.

You mention diriving throughout the Cape, and I think you need to narrow this down also since after your day throughout the Cape, you plan to head to Newport so you'd want to mark your drive accordingly.

The Cape has much to offer, and isn't 'one area' to drive through - delightful town all over from Brewster to Falmouth to PTown, Truro, Chatham, etc - do you want to see historic towns? antique along Route 6A? bike? hike? or get on the highway and make some stops off and alogn the way to Newport?

Mystic is lovely for those interested in maritime history, while the aquarium is lovely, ifyou have one near you or might do the one in Boston, then you could skip this one and just do the seaport area in one more leisurely day with a nice lunch or dinner -
(and the museum at Foxwoods was a great rec) - or take out Mystic for another day on Cape or MV.

I'm sure your family in Newport/N.Kingston can keep you busy there if you will be sightseeing (musuems, mansions, walks, hikes, harbor, and in Newport there are maritime areas/museums/sailing ships/harbor rides similar to Mystic.

You might want to check on gonewport.com to see what is around that area so you don't overlap (unless you want to) with the same similar sights in Mystic.

If you want to post back with activities that truly interst you, it woudl be easiser to help you narrow it down - unless you are ok with "if it's tuesday we must be on MV" type itinerary, which is fine if that is ok with you. - I just don't feel it's a relaxing itinerary or time to just enjoy each other and get a flavor for where you are.

I would consider taking out MV (and perhaps just a day through Mystic from newport to Boston) and enjoying the Cape or more on MV and take out Mystic and have a day in one chosen area of the Cape near the ferry.

I would not skip Mystic(it's great) but Salem.Paul