It’s amazing how much trust we have in Plexiglas. I thought about this as I stood on top of a single piece of Plexiglas more than 1,300 feet in the air, looking down at skyscrapers below.
This weekend me and the guys went to the Final Four NCAA basketball championships in Indianapolis. It’s become a bit of a tradition since one of my friends has won the lottery two years in a row, allowing him to buy four tickets to the NCAA finals even before we know who will be there. We went to the one in Dallas last year and I’m hoping he will get lucky against next season so we can go to the one in Houston.
The basketball games were fun, with the exception of Duke creaming Michigan State in the semifinal game. The Kentucky loss and the foiling of its perfect season by Wisconsin was also memorable. I’ve never seen so many sad faces as I did with the Wildcat fans who were robbed of their perfect season. There were a lot of cheap tickets sold on the streets after the semifinals as Kentucky fans returned to the Bluegrass State in droves.
Anyway, after watching Saturday night’s games, we decided to take a day trip to Chicago. Let me first say, Indiana has the worst road system in the universe. There are points where it’s like driving on an old dirt road. And, another point of advice, don’t get off the interstate in Gary, Ind. It’s like entering the zombie apocalypse with crumbled and abandoned buildings everywhere. It’s a place you lock the doors.
So, we survive Gary and pay $15 in tolls for the privilege to enter Chicago. And, it’s not too long until we see Willis Tower on the skyline. That’s the building you know as the Sear’s Tower, what used to be the tallest building in the world.
“I’ve got to go to the top,” I say as we wind into downtown Chicago.
Let me just say, if you’re going to Chicago, go on Easter. Traffic was nothing. It was just me and the cabbies.
We purchase our $19 tickets to go up to Sky Deck, atop the Willis Building. After waiting about an hour, we finally get on the fastest elevator in the world and ascend 103 floors in one minute. Once at the top, the view of Chicago and Lake Michigan was breath taking. It’s amazing what you can see from 1,353 feet in the air. And, it’s also amazing how brave you get when you’re up that high.
There are little cubicles you can crawl out in that jut out from the side of the building. You can step out and see yourself suspended about a quarter of a mile in the air. I did it without hesitation despite just being held aloft by a panel of Plexiglas. The skyscrapers below looked like little shacks even though most would dwarf the “Batman Building” in Nashville.
If you ever get to the Windy City, take the time to go to the Willis Tower. It’s worth the price and the wait.
Standard reporter Duane Sherrill can be reached at 473-2191.