I have a real fear of heights and I confronted that fear a couple of years ago when I was living in New York City and visited the Statue of Liberty. There’s no Statue of Liberty in Peoria, but there is a 200 foot observation tower in Tower Park, ironically located in Peoria Heights. I wanted to go last year, but time sailed by and it closed before I could visit it. There’s just a few weeks left for it to be open, so I thought we’d check it out today and face the fear once again!
Do me a favor and count from 1 to 60, we'll wait.......................Congratulations, we've just had a Mike Miller minute!
Here we are at The Tower Park. Wow, that tower looks pretty steep. Let's go look around and see what else is here in the park.
Here's a stature of Abraham Lincoln.
Hello Abe!
They've got a nice fountain that flows here in the front of the park.
A pavilion stands next to the fountain.
There's a picnic area in the back of the park with springy rides for the kids to play on.
Okay, time to face the fear. It's Tower time! Hey what's that over there to the left?
You get the tickets to climb the tower over there.
Sheila sold me a ticket and reluctantly posed for the MBIP camera behind the glass. Check out the unintentional obligatory guest mirror shot, we'll meet her in a minute.
Sheila pointed me towards the elevator and I waited for the rest of the people who were behind me buying tickets. And just who are these people you may be asking yourselves....
Well wonder no more, they are, from left: Frank, Andrea and Rob. Frank and Andrea are visiting from Germany and Rob is their host. Cool to have international guest stars here on MBIP!
The elevator doors open to reveal that it's a glass elevator. That goes up 200 feet in the air. Now is as good of a time to say this as anytime...MOTHERFUCKER!
Rob and Andrea are looking out the glassed in walls of the elevator as we slowly start to rise. Even at about five feet in the air I'm starting to have a major panic attack.
I'm standing over here just staring down at the floor of the elevator. I think I'm making Frank, Andrea and Rob a little nervous because I'm pouring sweat at this moment.
Finally the elevator arrived up at the observation deck, but no way can I get as close to the edge as Rob and Andrea are. I'm still freaking out from that glass elevator ride.
This is a shot taken about two feet from the edge. I can't tell you how uncomfortable I am up here.
I'm getting a little closer here.
Here's a shot of the river from this side. I thought maybe I'd feel a little more comfortable the longer I was up here, but that's not the case.
There's a plaque on the railing over here with a quote from Rudyard Kipling that reads: "What you do when you don't have to, determines what you will be when you can no longer help it." I'm not quite sure what that means and I think that they put it there because it sounds like he was very high when he wrote it. How appropriate!
Okay, inspired by that Kipling quote I took one shot from the edge of the observation window. Now I feel a little sick.
I desperately want to get back on ground, the only problem is I have to take that goddamned glass elevator to get back down there. I stood here frozen for about five minutes...
Yikes, it's even scarier walking back into this hellish elevator because now we're 200 feet above ground.
After what seemed an eternity, we're back down on the ground. I asked Sheila how long the elevator ride was and she told me it was a minute and a half. The longest 90 seconds of my life so far.
Here's a "Penny Pincher Souvenir Coin" machine. Perfect we can get a souvenir of our trip here.
You put two quarters and a penny in the slot here and push it in.
It's one turn shy of a Byrds song.
Let's see what our souvenir coin looks like...
It turned it into a weird football shaped thingy. I just realized I spent fifty cents to ruin a perfectly good penny. I think it's time to call it a day, we'll see you all tomorrow!
Tower Park
1222 E Kingman Avenue
Peoria Heights
309-686-2385
Related posts: Midnight At The Empire State Building and Midnight At The Empire State Building, Part II.
When I see you sky as i kite,
As high as I might,
I can't get that high.
Surprise link, click on it...I dare you!
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Attention Charlie Murphy Fans!
If you are a Charlie Murphy fan, then you need to check this out, he’s appearing at The Jukebox Comedy Club tonight, Friday and Saturday. I’m going and you can read about it on Monday or you can go see it live, the way it’s the best! Tickets are inexpensive for a top-shelf comedy name like this and there’s meet and greets after every show. You can get tickets online right here. Hope to see you there!
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Today’s post was brought to you by Cracked Pepper. Check them and all the other fine businesses helping to support this blog over at the MBIP Bucket List Page. Your Daily Random Linkage awaits you at the bottom of the that page as well!
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