This past weekend Douglas and I decided that rather than stay home and watch the same old crap on Sunday night television ,that we would start a new hobby, where once a month we would pick an interesting location somewhere the city ,and then explore it on foot…at night!
On this particular evening we chose upper Telegraph hill to explore . We drove out to Levi Plaza and started our walk at the foot of the Greenwich stairs, which leads to upper Montgomery Street. The stairs themselves consist of something like 10 flights…. It’s quite a workout!
The top of the steps puts you out near the Art Deco apartment building that was made famous in the 1947 Bogart and Bacall movie titled “Dark Passage“. The buildings classic 1930s architecture is wonderful.
After checking out the rest of Montgomery St, we continued the climb up to Coit tower. Nice views up there too… both inside and out. After checking out the Diego Rivera inspired murals in the tower, we looped our way back down through North Beach and Chinatown, eventually ending up back down at the Embarcadero where we started. Total miles walked= 3.5 , total time= 2 hours.
By the time we made it back to the car I was really short of breath(I think all the stair climbing did it), but the experience was totally worth it and we hope to do these kinds of walks a regular basis. The whole upper Telegraph hill area is one of my favorite places in the city and is especially beautiful at night when there are no tourists around. If I had a few spare million laying around, Id buy a house up there:-)
Here are some of the scenes from Sunday nights walk. ( Sorry I haven’t figured out yet, how to take good nighttime pics with this cheap camera).
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This is a really good idea! Have fun with this! If I had someone to walk with me, I'd wanna do it too.
I know, eh? I wish somebody would do this with me, too! Soooo cool!
(Man, Danielle, I think we need to live in the same province and be real-time friends, not just Internet friends. It would be a blast!)
Veryyyy cool pictures, Steve! I don't know what you're talking about not getting good night pics–they're fantastic!
Kerri : you and me together = SCARY. I'm sure we'd wreak havoc everywhere but I think we'd have fun lol!
And yes Steve, the night pictures are actually good, better than any I've ever taken
Depending on the camera I'm using, my night pictures sometimes come out funny. I have a bunch I took with my camcorder, and they have funny light lines on them. I haven't had too many opportunities with my new digital for night pictures yet, so we'll have to wait and see!
D, we would be freaking crazy together. I think we'll have to meet up and try this!
. (Except, we'd end up talking about surface tension or DNA or making terrible biology jokes on our night walk! 
).
STEPHEN MY FRIEN TOLD ME ABOUT YOUR BLOG???? CAN'T BELEIVE I NEVER HEARD ABOUT YOU I MEAN AFTER READIN I'M CONVINCED WE WERE SEPERATED AT BIRTH??? SILLY AS THAT SOUND WE HAVE SO MUCH IN COMMON ??? WOULD REALLY LIKE TO TALK WITH YOU AND COMPARE LIFES YOU CAN'T BELEIVE HOW JELIOUS I AM THAT YOU DIDN'T GAIN THE 140LBS OVER THE YEARS ON PREDNISONE MAYBE IT'S A GIRL THING CUZ I'VE NOTICED THAT GIRLS HAVE TO ENDURE THE WEIGHT MORE THAN BOYS IT'S A REALLY SPIZZER. WELL I'M AT WORK I HOPE THAT YOU'LL E MAIL ME AND WILL COMPARE STUFF!!!! YOUR NEW FOREVER FRIEND MARSH
HI Marsha, Would love to compare notes. Write me at breathinstephen@gmail.com
Hi Stephen: Have a question for you! Seeing as you've been on oodles of steroids for so long, have you had any major bone problems? Or, do you know if there is a certain steroid that causes more problems than others? Wondering b/c my bones started to misbehave when I was around 14…
Thanks! Heather
Hi Heather, Sorry you're dealing with bone problems at such a young age. ALL systemic steroids are bad for your bones in the long run. Even the milder inhaled steroids can have an effect on your bones.
Ive been lucky because my maintenence dose is really low, plus I started taking medication to treat the bone loss years at the first sign of trouble .My last bone scan ( from earlier this year) was almost normal again. I had reversed my bone loss.
My suggestion to you, if you're not already doing to so, is to take calcium and Vitamin D supplements daily. If you already have osteoporosis, start taking medication for it now before it get too severe .There are tons of new ones on the market. Make sure you have a bone scan done every year or so.
A lot of people don't know that prednisone is also bad for skeletal muscle. It can make them weak. In fact,other than its anti-inflammatory effects, prednisone is basically poison. Do your best to keep your steroid intake as low as possible.
Good luck to you!
Hi Heather, Sorry you're dealing with bone problems at such a young age. ALL systemic steroids are bad for your bones in the long run. Even the milder inhaled steroids can have an effect on your bones.
Ive been lucky because my maintenance dose is really low, plus I started taking medication to treat the bone loss at the first sign of trouble .My last bone scan ( from earlier this year) was almost normal again. I had reversed my bone loss.
My suggestion to you, if you're not already doing to so, is to take calcium and Vitamin D supplements daily. If you already have osteoporosis, start taking medication for it now before it get too severe .There are tons of new ones on the market. Make sure you have a bone scan done every year or so.
A lot of people don't know that prednisone is also bad for skeletal muscle. It can make them weak. In fact,other than its anti-inflammatory effects, prednisone is basically poison. Do your best to keep your steroid intake as low as possible.
Good luck to you!
Thanks for the reply! It's really funny, because the bulk of my high dose steroid use was when I was very young. I'm only on advair and the odd bump of low dose prednisone now. I just had my first bone scan and I heard the lady whispering so it will be interesting to hear the results! The doctor told me at 15 I would need a knee replacement by the time I was 27….I'm 25 and actually starting to believe her…
However, like my mother always said, better to be alive with bad knees than in the grave with two good ones!
I did not know about the muscle issues at all! That's really good to know. Will really have to start the weight training!
Good luck on your upcoming race!