My legs were aching from walking around the city all day, but I knew I was willing to strain every muscle in my body if it meant getting the view I’ve always wanted. It was my girlfriend and my one-year anniversary, and we had been walking the city for hours already, having visited a cool pizza place, a donut shop, and the city historical museum with her parents in town because her mother had never been exposed to this particular urban milieu before. It was a wonderful day that made for a great anniversary, but the icing on the cake was the achievement of a dream that I had always thought of as just that.

We stood in the ornate art deco lobby of the undisclosed building in the undisclosed city (for the sake of the building’s safety complete anonymity will be maintained), and toured the lobby and upper gallery, taking pictures of the elevator doors, lights, mail slots, and other such beautiful brass details. It was a Saturday, and, consequently, the building was fairly empty being that it had no worker bees present. We all hopped in an elevator off one wing out of sight from the security desk in hopes that it would deliver us to some as-of-yet unknown and wondrous place. Unfortunately the lift merely led to a plain 11th floor lobby for a rather large and infamous tenant whose doors were, of course, locked. Back down.

So, we thought, we had might as well get busy exploring the accessible upper mezzanine with its more than 30 varieties of marble. We were in a building that had truly been designed and constructed in a no expense spared situation. We tried, once again, to achieve a view from the shoulders of the giant via an elevator lobby tucked away in the mezzanine level, but alas, all the elevators allowed us only a peekaboo through their teasing doors before denying us vertical movement.

Her parents had grown tired as the day wore on, and we were all aware of the long walk to be had to get back to the car, but I couldn’t give up. Despite my guilt for dragging them into weariness in the process of exploring my architectural fantasies, I knew I hadn’t walked all of the way there in vain. I looked at my girl, consulting her briefly with my eyes, she was not tired. I excused us from her parents, claiming that we were going to go check out the shops in the basement level, and that we’d meet them back in the lobby shortly if they’d like to wait there.

My girlfriend and I bolted for the stairs to the basement level, determined to try every elevator and staircase in the building. We didn’t get distracted by anything else downstairs, we were on a mission, and the first elevator we tried, our luck, got us somewhere. Despite trying everything we could not get the top floor button to stay lit, the 26th floor button, however, when held, brought the most glorious lurch of movement. The doors parted for us in the sky that day to a view of an original 1920’s mahogany paneled elevator lobby, complete with law office on one side, and ornate marble fireplace on the other.

Upon calming down from the excitement of seeing a beautiful, original marble built-in drinking fountain (ok, only I was excited), we discovered an unlocked stairwell opposite our elevator. We slipped in, and up, to the 27th floor (locked with a keypad), and then on to the 28th, the top floor of the building’s usable space (29 and above being mechanical). This was the culmination of years long dream for me, and my heart was racing at the possibility of unknown security measures or life up there that could bring this fantasy crumbling down. The 28th floor was unlocked, and dead empty.

This was, very clearly, a recently abandoned law office on the best slice of the sky anywhere around. There were views for 360 degrees, an original art deco restroom with a cool porthole door, and yes, an original, built in drinking fountain. All of my dreams were fulfilled. After I settled into the new level of dopamine I was able to take some pictures and share some romantic moments with my girlfriend whilst nearly 400 feet above the city with the entire skyline spread out before our eyes. Eventually we instructed her parents on how to join us discreetly at the top, and, after 40 or so minutes, we headed down and back across the cityscape.

The best adventures are the ones that happen spontaneously, and I wouldn’t have rather had anyone at my side, so it made for a wonderful anniversary. Some things will never be seen or experienced without breaking some rules. Some moments will only ever be shared with one other person. Some heights demand to be scaled. I can assure you, it was worth the risk for the experience and the memories. Adventure is out there.