I cleared my schedule last week, and decided to head to Las Vegas to visit the Neon Boneyard, which had been on my list for over 20 years. Vegas is not my most favorite place to visit, but I figured it was time to get over my impatience with it and find my zen. So I booked a hotel downtown, The Plaza, and off I went. Turns out, all I needed was 24 hours of pure neon. From the boneyard, to photographing old signs at night, to finding myself at the base of the Seven Magic Moutains (an art installation in the outskirts of town)....doing it my way, was exactly what I needed. And along the journey, I found some delicious steak (Oscar's...where the tagline is, "Beef, Booze and Broads") and reunited with a dear, dear friend, whom I haven't seen in 4 years. So that...was Vegas.
Elvis is everywhere in Vegas, especially at the Fremont experience, where I found three of them.
Old neon meets new neon.
There's something great about hanging out in Downtown Vegas, it's still seedy enough to make the night feel like an adventure, but gentrified enough to easily find a decent cocktail and meal.
The Yucca Hotel Sign at the Neon Boneyard, is next level neon craftsmanship. Each one of the pieces in the plant part of the sign were individually hand crafted. I WISH I could see what this sign looks like lit up, I bet it's amazing.
The Neon Boneyard just may have inspired me to take a lesson or two in neon crafting.
Seven Magic Mountains can be found about 10 miles outside Las Vegas. When I first saw it from the road, on my way into Vegas, I became obsessed with visiting it. The neon paint is like a siren song, luring one in from the freeway. Luckily, I ignored my instincts which were to drive across the open desert directly to the rocks...that would have been very bad.