One of my favorite cities that I visited as a child was Chicago. I went there a number of times and always had a good time. Only a few times did we actually go downtown and see that sites. One of these times, I finally got to see something my young eyes had wanted for some time, the view from atop the Sears Tower.

This iconic skyscraper climbs to 1,454 feet and has 110 floors and 4.5 million square feet. It was designed by Bruce Graham or Skidmore, Owings and Merrill and built between between 1970 and 1974 by Engineer Fazlur Khan of the same firm, for the original owner Sears Roebuck and Company.  For 20 years after construction, it was the tallest building in the world and to this day remains the largest.

When I visited the tower I was around 12 years old and with my Father and old Brother. I really wanted to go to the top but they didn’t, and it was a bit pricey. So, my father reluctantly let me go up by myself, waiting at the bottom for me to come back down. We had walkie talkies that we wanted to test and see how high up they would work. Once at the top, they would only work if we were on the same side of the building and I was right next to the window.

The view from the top was amazing. The observation deck is designed in a way that gives you views on all sides of the build, you just have to walk from one side of the room to the other. On one side is an awesome view of the vast Lake Michigan and on the other, the vastness of the Chicago metro area. The sun was starting to go down while I was up there and I got to see it at night and day. The lights of the city slowly flickered on in long straight lines as far as the eye could see.

Eventually I took the express elevator back down and continued on site seeing, but this was definitely the highlight of all of my trips to Chicago.

 

Sources:

http://skyscraper.org/TALLEST_TOWERS/t_sears.htm

http://images.gooogle.com