Up, up, up...and almost away in the microphone...

My sister drove 9 hours from home last night to spend the weekend with us here in Tennessee. We were up and at 'em early this morning, but didn't quite get rolling until almost 10am. We had lunch at Firehouse Subs, which I might add...is a fabulous place to eat! :0P Yummy! Anyway, I've had this crazy idea since we've been here that I wanted to visit the Sunsphere in Knoxville. My sister was somewhat intrigued with the idea, so she, Andee, and I ventured out to tackle this obstacle! Eh...not the greatest idea for family fun! When we found the World's Fair Park, we were greeted with crowds of people...evidently...it is the Relay for Life today at the park. Andee is screaming in excitement to see the 'microphone', also referred to as the Sunsphere. Next, we discover that we have to trot about half a mile in the sweltering heat to get to the darn thing. When we finally get to the bottom of the thing...I think...hmmm...heights is not my best friend...maybe I should rethink this. All the while a little voice is telling me it'll be fun...it'll be neat-o...then, I realize the little voice is emerging from a small body hanging from my pant leg. We hit the elevator button...I hit 4-observation deck. No biggie, right. Uh huh...Andee, who has a wondrous love for numbers hits 8. Ha! It don't light up. See? Told y'all we couldn't go all the way up. Striving to prove me wrong, Andee hits 7. Incidentally, we skipped 4 and went all the way up. Not only was I wrong...I was superbly wrong. We can't even go to 4...we have to go to 7. :0/ No biggie. The doors open. Gag! I almost fainted. The thought of being that high in a microphone shaped object brought horrible thoughts to my mind. Ricky has always said tall, slender structures, like the power plant stacks, can move anywhere from 6-12 feet from side to side when the wind blows. All I could picture was a great gust of wind, the microphone tumbling...us inside. Okay...I've been...I've seen...let's go! Nope...my sister, the daredevil decides we have to make the entire lap around the globe-shaped windowed ball-o-death before we can go down the elevators. So...as we..eh...my sister and Andee frolicked around the Sunsphere, I, on the other hand, gave many hugs to the interior walls of that baby. I was deathly afraid. :0/ My sister did talk me in to getting to the window for a peak...yeah, yeah...it is the picture of me crawling. The picture of me and Andee was quickly posed and quickly dissolved, as I did not want to be up in the Sunsphere, microphone, ball-o-death...whatever the crap it was. I just didn't want to be there. I was never more glad to touch the ground with my feet again...

Okay...just a little perspective...see the dude?
He's walking across a bridge that is about 25 or 30
feet tall. The white roof around the bottom of the
Sunsphere is supposedly an observation deck.