Same old, same old.

Walk #48

I've been walking this route for the last few months. I've covered 19th, 20th, 21st, 23rd, and now 22nd this way. Good times. Let's celebrate with a backwards letter!

And a missing S!
And this is San Francisco after all, so there were some stairs ....

And then the street split and I had a choice of going up, then going down or just going down. I went down.

And then I went to yoga . . . at the Sports Basement. Obvi.

Total mileage: 4.22

Happy Birthday to Matt!

Walk #44

I had some time, after work before dinner, so I went back to Parkside/Sunset. I took the L Taraval out to the SF Zoo.

The majority of the walk looked like this. Foggy and wet.

I took 45th from Sloat all the way to Lincoln and 44th back down to Ortega where things got fun.

Let's get started. First, I love the superscript. And second, the awesome upside down V.

Then there was the 2 / Z phenomenon ... twice!

But then the Ortega Street fun began . . .

I was pretty sure that the 'R' in Ortega was a really a P. It was a few blocks before I got proof, but you can be the judge.

In the end, they forgot to complete the R all together.

Then there were both of these awesome blunders. I like when the street stampers start haphazardly throwing around vowels. (For reference it's ORTEGA.)

Things were quite deceptive because of the fog. Ortega St kept going up. I was pretty certain there wouldn't be any stairs. Then I was pretty sure the first stair case was it. Then the second appeared.

In the end, it was stairrifically sweaty. At least I got a bit of a workout . . .

The walk ended with a bang on FredErick Street.

Thank you street stampers. It was an exceptional day for you!

Total mileage: 7.52

Happy Holidays

Walk # 43

Heading to SB, I walked up Buena Vista West and down Upper Terrace. I cut down a staircase called Monument Way. It was steptacular!

From there I crossed Market and took 21st Street all the way across town. Though correct, this was visually stimulating to me:

Through the Mission, there's always something fun to see. Today it was this:

After free yoga at the Sports Basement, I ran to the train station to head home from Christmas dinner. Better late than never!

Total mileage: 6.19

Hello? Deep Thought?

Walk #42

I hope this walk was not the answer to the ultimate question, because if it was, I missed it.

After a lovely weekend with the McEnoys including but not limited to Go Dog, Go, Harry Potter and The Goblet of Fire, Bananagrams, trains in my boots, kisses (aw, nice), yummy meals and yoga, I walked home from the Presidio Sports Basement (yes, AGAIN). It seemed simple to take Baker all the way from the Marina to the Haight, but holy cannoli there's quite a hill in the way:

Then Baker Street got all British on me:

Maybe you go to the bakre before you go to the theatre. Or maybe the street stampers don't pay attention to their work. Either way.

Total mileage: 3.54

C is for Cookie

Walk #40

Todays walk had some very opposing purposes. 1) Use my coupon for See Jane Run in Noe Valley 2) try Anthony's Cookies 3) get to my favorite spinning class. I guess only the cookies don't make sense. But I earned them let me tell you . . .

I left work and went down Polk onto 10th. Now, I was only on 10th for one block and I've been down 10th before, BUT on the opposite side of the street. So I was excited to find this right at the start of my adventure:

So close, street stampers.

From 10th, I took Mission to 14th to Minna to Capp. A tip from my good friend Randy, led me to this:

The concept is there, and all the correct letters. It's just the wrong letter that got doubled.

I took Capp all the way to Cesar Chavez. Now, OG San Franciscans will know this street was not always called Cesar Chavez. And though they've done their best to change all of the signs and addresses, this still occurs:

I turned on Valencia for a quick stop at Anthony's Cookies. It's no Diddy Riese, but it smelled DIVINE in there! I bought two cookies (at $1.25 a piece) for myself. I was super excited about the white chocolate chip. All too often white chocolate chips go hand in hand with macadamia nuts which I veto. But just like Diddy, Anthony knows best and keeps those pesky nuts out. Unlike Diddy , this white chocolate chip cookie was just okay. BUT I also got a cookies and cream cookie and WHOA that was one good cookie!

And now I've got "C is for Cookie" stuck in my head . . .

The beauty of San Francisco is, once you've had your cookies, the city is going to make you work them off. I took 25th to Sanchez and stopped in to See Jane Run to get some extra running supplies. It's a way cute store with a great female empowerment story. Everyone was ridiculously friendly and helpful, without being pushy. I really liked it, but it's no Sports Basement.

Up Sanchez, I found a lot of irony in the photo to the left.

Not sure that you can tell, but that steep old street that climbing is about to cross Hill St. Awesome.

And that which goes up, must go down. . .

Sanchez Street is great because not only have we already seen it spelt Sanches, but it also joins the ranks of Anzavista with the backwards Z, not once but twice!

The best part is that these stamps are about 5 blocks from each other and one is on the west side of the street and the other is on the east side of the street. I'm so glad I crossed the street when I did so I could fully enjoy each of them.

A fun aspect of the walking game is that sometimes when you're walking along a street, you'll notice a steeper

street next to you or a cool staircase, or you might think "Hey, I bet the view is awesome from up there." But inevitably, you press on with your planned route as the crushing sensation of just how many streets you still have to go, hits you. This was how I felt a few weeks ago when I took 20th St all the way out to the bay and again how I felt when taking 19th. Luckily, every now and then, you find yourself ON those staircases and staring out at those views. As was the case today on Sanchez. Even more satisfying is walking down those staircases instead of up them!

Made it to the gym in plenty of time for spinning to kick my ass before dragging myself home.

Total mileage: 6.23

This walk brought to you by the number 20

Walk #34

It was a BEAUTIFUL day in San Francisco. It was a little warm for my taste but it was super easy to

keep in the shade, which always makes the walk more pleasant. And I knew it was going to be a good walk when no more than 1o minutes in, I found my first street stamp. Backwards letters are turning out to be more fun than misspellings...

I took Haight to Buena Vista East , down Park Hill to Roosevelt (which I've already done, darn it!) down Levant

to the Vulcan Street Stairs.

I'm so fascinated by these streets that are actually staircases. How on earth do people move into these houses?

At the same time, how fun would it be to live along a staircase! No cars going going by, sort of quiet and secluded. Very un-city like living, right in the middle of the city.

Much to my surprise the Vulcan Stairs were not the last of today's journey. From the bottom of the stairs I continued down Ord to 17th over to Douglass where I went up and down. I followed Douglas across Market, took a trip down Carson which is a dead end and turned on to 20th which I essentially followed all the way to the bay.

The best part of making a straight shot along one street is that you get to see all the creativity of the street

stampers. A phenomenon which will hence be known as the 'So Van Ness'. (See previous post, Murals in the Mission.)

For example: 20TH ST appeared quite a bit and it seems that it would be the most accurate. I get "20TH" as well. I doubt any San Franciscans would confuse the Streets and Avenues. But what about 20ST? I get that it's supposed to be 20 STREET, but

to me, this is awfully close to "2TH AVE" which I came across way back in August. And then there's the fun of spelling out "TWENTIETH" which just seems like so much work for our already lazy street stampers. So sometimes, as you can see, you get "TWENTYTH" similar to the TWELVTH from back in October. It's totally the same guy doing it, I'm sure. "Just throw on a TH, it'll be fine."

There were two pseudo interruptions to my 'straight shot' along "Twentyth St."

Up some stairs, down some stairs. On the second set (right) I came across a dad and his two sons running up and down the stairs trying to get in a bit of a work out. It was a nice idea, family exercise time, but the dad was a little intense and the younger son was crying for water. 'A' is for Awkward.

I also came a cross a woman from the neighborhood who gave me a tip about climbing over a fence and crawling under some bushes so I could get this photo of where I was headed:

I passed by Dolores park which was in full force, hula hoopers and all.

And, only in the Mission, an advert for a yoga studio.

The second interruption came in the form of Highway 101. I had to go down to 18th to cut across then come up San Bruno. After crossing the freeway, I had this awesome view of where I had come from:

I passed two community gardens along the way, turns out, there is no shortage of them in the city.

From 20th I turned onto Illinois ...

Sure sure, not misspelled, but I'm sure we can agree - that 'N' is actually a 'Z' . . .

Illinois to 16th to Bryant to 14th to Hartford, back to 20th for a photo I had missed, Eureka to 17th to Ashbury, home. Whew, I'm EXHAUSTED!

Total mileage: 11.15