I love my city for our glorious weather and the countless activities that can be done outside. While I spend my fair share of time indoors at the gym or yoga or other exercise class, I like to break up my routine with some outdoor activity. There are a number of hidden stairways in and around LA, but my personal favorite are the Santa Monica stairs. This set of stairs connects the part of Santa Monica that is on the bluffs, to neighboring Pacific Palisades at the ocean level. It is in a beautiful neighborhood with multi-million dollar homes that I daydream about.

I find these stairs particularly inspiring, because I am surrounded by the fittest of the fit, and it motivates me to do one more lap.  There are just shy of 200 steps (188 to be exact), so by 16 or so laps, I can be proud to have climbed the equivalent of a skyscraper!  The stairs can get crowded, so at my slow pace I stay to the right so the exercise gurus can run past me.  I one time saw a man climbing the stairs on his hands in a handstand!