The Vegas Bone Collector

I've shared a few blogs on my hesitations with Las Vegas and how, on my recent impromptu visit, I set on a mission to uncover a beauty in a city that totally failed to impress me.

And there lies the irony. No, I'm by no means saying I am a Vegas convert. I join the millions that fall in love with every show of the Bellagio fountains and, unsurprisingly, I have successfully sought out any true style and panache in the bar and restaurant scene. But, as the saying goes, you can put lipstick on a pig, it's still a pig. My Vegas wears lipstick. But it is still Vegas. 

But, back to the irony. I find it hard to openly admit that, amidst such consternation for Sin City, I would uncover possibly one of the best experiences of my life that, in the unlikely event that I have to return again to Vegas, I would go back in a heartbeat.

Forget the casinos, replica pyramids, roller coasters and remakes of gondola journeys through Venice. Hit the Boneyard.

It's off the Strip, in true Downtown Vegas. It calls itself a Neon Museum. 

But it's not a relic of history, it's a jawdroppingly, super cool walk up, down and around memory lane of the last century. In neon.

Casinos, hotels and bars before our time, already knocked down and forgotten. Not here. Iconic images and signs, you've seen in movies, saved and restored right here. Motels, the Glass Slipper, Wedding Chapels, The Sahara...everything is stacked up in this incredibly cool retro-fest, given a great guide lead narrative and you will not stop clicking your camera. It's mesmerising. 

We are all running so fast to keep up with the modern day, we are quick to put the past immediately behind us and embrace something new. But there is beauty in the old. 

This is the Vegas skyline of yesteryear. The famous haunts you've just spent your holiday dollars in, they might just land here in the near future. 

Check this out, support it's great ambition, and see some soul in Sin City.

'Til next time, Pandora

Photos: Pandora Skies
The Neon Museum http://www.neonmuseum.org