The Hancock Center

On Michigan Avenue in Chicago, Illinois stands the John Hancock Center. It stands over 100 stories and over 1500 feet tall. At the 90th floor is an observatory with spectacular views of the city and Lake Michigan - at a cost of $18 per adult. The observatory offers views on all four sides of the building and even allows an open air section in case you want to breath in the city air at 1000 feet up. According to the center's website, "design concept allows only five to eight inches of sway in a 60mph wind; tested to withstand winds of 132 miles-per-hour."

When we visited recently, I found myself uncomfortable with watching my children run towards the windows. Despite my best intentions to reason through the situation, fear consumed me. I mistakenly thought a refresher in the restroom would relieve me, but without the panorama of sights to see around me I felt the sway of the building. Needless to say I was not particularly comforted.

While I could not stomach the open air at 1,000 there are aggressive climbers who scale buildings like these from the outside up. In 1981, Dan Goodwin dressed up as Spider-Man for his risky assent only to have firefighters spray hoses at him and attempt to use grappling hooks to knock him down. From the side of the building after he was already on his climb. Check out the grainy video on YouTube for this inexplicable use of municipal resources: