Skyline views are a dime a dozen. To really take in the city's sweep in all its satanic petrochemical splendor, you need to head over to the Ship Channel area, the engine room of the local economy. It may stink of smoldering benzene and God knows what else over there around the Port of Houston Industrial Complex, but without all those chemical trains, oil tankers and fire-breathing refineries, there would be probably be no River Oaks, Galleria or downtown skyscrapers worthy of the name. And truth be told, honest to God, so help us Jim, there is a sort of savage beauty to that fearsome industry. The 610 bridge is the highest easily accessible point for miles around, and the ideal vantage point to take in the totality of Houston, warts and all.