It’s not exactly my idea of a good time, but props to Nik Wallenda, 40, and his sister Lijana, 42.

They’re seventh-generation daredevils, and I guess Darwinism tells us that they must be blessed with some highly talented genes.

They form part of the Flying Wallendas, who have been tackling terrifying feats like this around the world since 1780, with their latest stunt seeing them cross a rope strung between two skyscrapers in Times Square.

At a height of 25 stories, there was little room for error, and Lijana had suffered a near-fatal fall back in 2017, so there was plenty of tension around.

Here’s CBS News:

The siblings walked from opposite ends of the 1,300-foot wire suspended between the towers, crossing each other in the middle, where Lijana Wallenda sat on the wire and let her brother step over her. Both then continued to the opposite side.

Their latest daredevil stunt was streamed live on ABC and watched by thousands of spectators from below. The two were wearing tethered safety harnesses required by the city in case they fell.

OK, so the safety harnesses might take away a tiny bit of the thrill, but it’s still a gutsy feat.

To the video we go:

Solid effort.

To understand the Wallenda family history, you need to go way back with a look through some of their standout moments:

The Wallendas trace their fearless roots to 1780 Austria-Hungary, when ancestors traveled as a band of acrobats, aerialists, jugglers, animal trainers and trapeze artists…

The chair pyramid went terribly wrong in 1962 when a misstep at the State Fair Coliseum in Detroit sent two men to their deaths and paralyzed a third performer.

In 1978, Karl Wallenda fell to his death while attempting to walk a cable strung between two hotel towers in San Juan, Puerto Rico.

Since first stepping on a wire when he was 2, Nik Wallenda has earned six Guinness records, the latest in October 2008. That’s when, 20 stories over the streets of Newark, N.J., he traveled the longest distance and the greatest height by bicycle on a wire, riding 150 feet.

Fourteen family members perform today in various troupes.

As mentioned earlier, Lijana was lucky to survive a fall in 2017, which you can read about here.

I’ll stick to tapping away at the keyboard and working remotely on a Monday, thanks.

[sources:cbsnews&cbsnews]