Travel Kit

Take one large Lands' End tote bag. The obnoxious kind, with the pretentious monogram...

 ...fill with...

 Two pair shorts, in distinctly a distinctly New England feel (left: L.L.Bean, right: vintage '80s USA made Polo)

 Two pair swim trunks (the cheap kind, discussed ad nauseam here)

 Five tennis shirts; three white, two navy

 Two long sleeve shirts, the comfortable, old, soft kind. The kind that not only don't require ironing, but actually look better without it. Coastal New England can get cool and breezy, even in August, and shirts like these function well as a light jacket worn untucked over the tennis shirts. Tucked in, you become almost presentable in a pinch, should you decide to dine at that particularly snooty fried clam joint one night.

 Two pair long pants: one as "Go to Hell" as it gets (1960s vintage real madras), one simple khakis, dull as it gets (very old L.L.Bean...so soft)

 One pair boat shoes, one pair tattered old Converse, retro-fitted with rawhide laces.

 One striped ribbon belt, one old leather belt.

 One cotton sweater in neutral cream. As I said, it can get chilly, especially at night

 One goofy high tech waterproof pullover windbreaker thing, the kind that folds up into its own pocket. Nothing looks sillier in the rain than total unpreparedness. A good thing to keep in the car.

 In case of total emergency, one pair low top Bean Boots, one (and only one) pair of socks. These will hopefully spend the entire trip in the trunk, but you never know when the wife and kids will feel the itch to spend the day doing something woodsy. Proper footwear, or something like it, is essential.

 One cotton ball cap. If you don't know what that number 9 stands for, just keep it to yourself, or risk severe recrimination. (Yikes, this almost looks like a Summer collection fashion spread. Can you imagine how expensive this would all be if someone like Mark McNairy had his name sewn inside all this stuff? Frightening. I'm scaring myself.)

All of these clothes go with all of these clothes, which is a good trick to know when traveling. Any combination will do, and none of it requires much care. There's not a thing in the bunch that can't have the wrinkles knocked out of it with a couple of good shakes and a few minutes of wear. All of these clothes also go with:

Noticeably absent: blazer or ties. This is, after all, a casual, beach-centric family vacation. Despite what some of you may think, I'm not a total stiff.

Also noticeably absent: t-shirts. By now I'm sure you all know how I feel about grown men in t-shirts.

That'll do for the next few days. I'll check in next week with some tales from the North country.