February 28, 2008 Issue                                       

©2007 The Chestnut Hill Local

Local Life

They’ll also live in Peru and Cambodia
Why uproot great life here and move to Alaska?
by ELLEN WEISER

David and Ellen Weiser will leave in May to live in Fairbanks, Alaska, dragging this pop-up Chalet camper behind their brand new, bought-for-the-occasion, Rav 4. After Alaska, the couple will do two-year volunteer stints in a variety of countries throughout the world, including Peru and Cambodia, for another eight to 10 years.

What does a 61-year-old woman and her 56 year-old husband do for an alternative to cruising and golfing? Pack up and leave.

In May my husband David and I will head for Fairbanks, Alaska, dragging a little pop-up Chalet camper behind our brand new, bought-for-the-occasion, Rav 4.  The plan is to take three months to get to Alaska, stay about three years, working and making money and then start on two-year volunteer stints in a variety of countries throughout the world, including Peru and Cambodia, for another eight to 10 years. 

We’ve heard it all, from “Are you crazy?” to “How selfish can you be?” to “I’m so jealous” and “I wish I could be brave like you.” For me its not bravery or lunacy. Its just who I am — and I’d like to share the adventure with you.

Our journey is about planning and serendipity, being prudent and taking risks, saying many goodbyes, but planning many ways to keep in touch. Is it foolish to try and sell a house in this market, especially ours with just six rooms, one bath and five and one-quarter acres? You bet. Will we wait until it’s sold before we leave? Not a chance!  How many times have I heard that someone has waited until just the right moment only to have that moment swept away? Is our daughter and her family with four children sad, angry and a little hurt that we are leaving? So she tells me every day.

A consummate traveler through inner and outer worlds
by LEN LEAR

World traveler Elayne Aion stayed still long enough to take over this charming shop, The Dovetail Artisans, at 105 E. Glenside Ave. in Glenside, just a few doors down from the 60-year-old Rizzo’s Pizzeria & Restaurant. (Photo by Erin Vertreace)

“I should like to spend the whole of my life in traveling abroad, if I could just borrow another life to spend afterwards at home ... The soul of a journey is liberty, perfect liberty to think, feel and do just as one pleases. We go on a journey chiefly to be free of all impediments and of all inconveniences; to leave ourselves behind and much more to get rid of others.”——William Hazlitt, “On Going a Journey”

When Elayne Aion, now 54, attended Penn State University’s main campus, she was already a pioneer. In 1974 the Cheltenham High School graduate became the first female bartender that Zeno’s, the college bar, had ever hired. Not exactly like being the first person to walk on the moon, but it was symptomatic of Elayne’s iconoclastic spirit.

Modern man: Bad dancing, bad video games, bad love life
by MIKE TODD

When my wife Kara recently announced that she was planning a girls’ weekend in New York City with some of her friends, my thoughts immediately turned to the provisions I’d need to sustain myself in her absence, namely video games and Harvest Cheddar Sun Chips.