Thanksgiving Day

summer is almost over!

I can't believe it's already September.
The last half of the year goes by way faster than the first half.
This 3-day weekend was perfect for recharging.
I can smell fall and the holidays in the coming months.
Time flies like an arrow, fruit flies like a banana.

City of Bridges

Day 1: Drove to the strip and had breakfast at Deluca's.

Then we rode the Monongahela Incline to see the city scape.
See here for a better picture of the incline and a thorough explanation.

"Pittsburgh is world record holder for bridges with piers, beating Venice, Italy."

"midwest is best" road trip

"For the record, West Virginia has strict anti-incest laws."

"midwest is best" road trip

Day 7, Wednesday: En route to Pittsburgh, PA we passed through the tip of West Virginia.

As we crossed this bridge coming from OH, we noticed this little historic town &
decided to take a detour. Turned on some random streets and found this area.

We didn't stay too long. Though the little town had a lot of beautiful bridges and historical buildings , there was something about it that was amiss. To be honest, and I know this may sound ignorant, but the people there sort of creeped us out. It seriously reminded us of those movies about urbanites getting lost in some small town and never making it out alive. Our theory was that there was something in the water, or we wonder whether incest is legal in this state, because some of the people there was just... not right. So we made sure we were out of there before dark.

Thinking about all of this, I just decided to wiki Wheeling, WV, and lo and behold:
"The origins of the name "Wheeling" are disputed. One of the more credible explanations is that the word comes from the Lenni-Lenape phrase "wih link", which meant "place of the head." This supposedly referred to a white settler who was scalped and decapitated. His severed head was left on display at the confluence of Wheeling Creek and the Ohio River."
Well, this explains it all! Oh by the way, we drove all the way up the tip of WV and saw an oil refinery along the river. Hello, toxic exposure...

On a lighter note, John Corbett is from Wheeling, WV and I just found out he's dating Bo Derek.

"midwest is best" road trip

I just realized I didn't take any pictures of Chicago with film, just digital. It's funny because I uploaded film faster than digital. I'm being lazy right now to go through all the pictures that's in there and picking the ones I actually like. So I guess I'll skip that for now and show you pictures from my sister's house in Dayton, OH.

Day 6: We left Chicago Tuesday morning and decided to stop over my sister's on the way to Pittsburgh. Which works out perfectly because it's halfway to PA and we don't have to pay for a hotel. We got to check out a couple of Goodwill stores while we were there, but I didn't find anything, except for a $5 simple black Burberry dress in my sister's size. I had to convince her to get it too because she's not really into designer/name brand stuff, but even if it wasn't a "Burberry" dress, I thought it was still pretty.

This is the first time I'm using this camera and I like it.


Jhayda's such a great kid. She has this innocence about her and imagination that I wish I had as a kid. She paints, draws and writes stories. She's really good at taking care of her little brother and Sofia while we were there.

Jhaxie's collection. He just turned 5. He is still very much into dinosaurs and animals and has recently started getting into Pokemon. When he was 3 he knew more about dinosaurs that I ever did my entire life. He started reading last year. He's such a clever boy, but he can be very emotional and mischievous at times.

Sofia loved spending time with her cousins and still asks me every now and then: "Ate?"
(which means "big sister")

"midwest is best" road trip

We started the summer by going on a road trip from New Jersey to Chicago. To be honest, I was dreading this trip just because I wasn't sure if Sofia will be able to handle sitting in the car for long periods of time, this amongst other reasons. Much to my surprise, this trip turned out to be very relaxing. We made it a point to take our time, make as much stop as possible and just go at our own pace.

Day 1, Thursday: We decided to stay the night in Cleveland, OH. It took us about 10 hours to get there vs the estimated 7.5 hours. Which wasn't bad. We stayed in Lakewood, Oh which is the more residential part of Cleveland and it was really nice and quiet there.

We found Melt Bar and Grilled there which is famous for their huge melt sandwiches. The episode when Man vs. Food visits is actually going to show tonight at 9pm est on the Travel Channel. Though, I must say I didn't think my food was all that great. I got the "Purple Parma" which is just an eggplant parmesan sandwich. Andrew, on the other hand, seemed to really love the "Big Popper", which is basically jalepeno poppers and cheese, between two big slices of battered bread and deep fried like a Monte Cristo. Needless to say, he didn't eat anything the following day.

Day 2 Cleveland to Chicago

Day 2, Friday: It was hot. We tried to go down to the beach but by the time we reached this point, we were ready to go back to the car and turn up the ac. Which is exactly what we did.

The drive to Chicago wasn't bad. There was a huge storm right when we were by Gary, IN. so we stopped at the service station along with all the other motorists. It rained hard for 20 minutes. We sat by Hardee's while Andrew resisted the urge to buy food there. The electricity went out a couple times and we watched each others reactions and laughed to ourselves about how silly it is to get so scared about losing electricity. The rain calmed down a bit and we continued on.

We finally got to Chicago and talked about how great the skyline is compared to Cleveland's and probably all other cities. It was traffic of course, but I took Lake Shore Drive anyway because it's more scenic. Sarsi calls me from Hawaii and I get a quick update from him, but I had to let him go because, well, I was driving. Then I reminisced about days spent with friends at Grant Park, the one day I worked for Greenpeace and solicited people's billing information in Navy Pier, that one park with a great view, my old work, the places I used to ride my bike to and the quiet little area by the lake I used to do tai chi at. Finally, we exited at Montrose. Saw that the Target finally opened there and talked about how Montrose looks nice until we pass Western.

Finally reached Avers, namesake of this blog. My mom was home watching The Filipino Channel of course, and the house smelled like fried pork chops. Welcome home to us!

mahalo sarsi

this post is dedicated to J since he's moving to hawaii next week.
coincidentally, i developed ten rolls of film last week & discovered
these pictures in the lot from our southwest road trip in 2008.

this song 'the highway' by peter & the wolf sums up that road trip for me.

"wake up, were driving it's best to keep moving. things are going okay.
eating fruit on the highways, trying to stay healthy.
dreaming of the old days. eye sockets running out in the fields.
the life of the farmer, it always appeals to me.
i wrote on a postcard i may or may not send.
i was keeping distracted until i saw horses and thought of you."

J. was notorious for smoking cigarettes at that time. having learned i was pregnant, he decided he would not smoke around me. i was so proud of him because even though it was so hard for him not to smoke in the car, he was careful and considerate of me the whole way through -- from chicago -- texas -- new orleans -- memphis --and then back to chicago.
however, this might be the reason he decided to gulp down a liter of moutain dew
which turned him into a chatterbox and king of karaoke-in-the-car-while-bella-tries-to-sleep.
nevertheless, it proved to himself that he could quit smoking if he wanted to.
a year later, he did... noting that this trip was a precursor to it all.




now, with the weird air left behind, he will be be taking off in a week to follow the sun & worship the waves.
he'll breathe in a new life and know what lightness feels.

here's to your many many new adventures to come, my good friend.
i've enjoyed our voyages together and look forward to sharing a few more when i see you
in your new home.

aloha.