The Erastus Corning Tower stands at 590 feet through 44 floors, which ranks it #1 in the state of New York outside of NYC. That’s saying something. The observation deck is inside with a 270 degree panoramic of the area. There’s no time limit or people waiting to nudge you back to the elevators. There is plenty of space and time. It was the perfect break to a fun-filled day of family learning as we saw a kid’s juggling science show in the morning and were on-route to a state capitol building tour in the afternoon.
But we didn’t consider one small detail as we embarked upward…
“Dad, I’ve got to go.”
“Where?” I said to my 5-year-old son.
I didn’t really need to ask as body language spoke volumes.
This observation deck also has restrooms! I offered the customary invitation to all the boys in our party and moments later, we were all in the bathroom relieving 590 feet of pressure. My 5-year-old was not so speedy. He had breakfast and lunch to resolve, thus I wasn’t going anywhere for a while. What could I do to pass the time?
As my oldest son and his friend were washing their hands (I was leaning against the back wall, waiting), I threw down the challenge!
“Alright, which of you two men (and they were 11 at the time) can do a pull-up!?” Directly in front of me was a wall mounted urinal and perfect pull-up bar above.
They weren’t sure if I was serious, so I demonstrated how to do a few pull-ups.
“That’s how it is done. They are called ‘pull-UPS’. If you can’t get your chin over the bar, it’s just a ‘pull’. Which of you can do a ‘pull-UP’?”
The gauntlet had been thrown down, 590 feet above the city! Could they overcome the pressure and thinning air? The video shows they were man-enough for the challenge.
Do you know what else the video shows?
- The urinal auto-flush motion detector triggers at every pull-up. That was interesting to get “Mile High Flushes“.
- It shows two 11-year-old boys having a blast, while having their manhood challenged.
That’s the irony of Dadnamics. I see it over and over again. We spent all day doing and seeing cool things, but what do they remember?
You already know that answer.
