I thought by now I was used to the heat.
Apparently not. We decided to take in the Neon Boneyard tour, which was fabulous, except that after an hour I’d turned into a jibbering puddle.
It turned out to be a private tour too. Only Claire and I turned up, with everyone else booked in for our session apparently realising that it might be rather too hot to walk around slowly outdoors in the middle of the day and making their apologies before heading for the more sensible climate of a casino.
I’ll be alright, I thought. I’ve got a hat.
I know the whole point is that the signs don’t actually light up any more so it has to be during daylight hours, but at midday or 2pm – the only times you can request a tour – you do start to wonder what the body count is.
I’m not allowed to post my own photos here, so instead these pictures are from Google Earth. Fly to "36 10 38.71 N 115 08 03.85 W" for the Silver Slipper, or "36 10 35.99 N 115 08 06.55 W" for the Treasure Island pirate skull and zoom in to get more detail.
The major addition to the boneyard since these ariel shots were taken is the Stardust sign, which is in pieces (some of the letters arranged to spell out "trust", for a recent wedding) but they do have it all. Rumour has it that Bette Midler is going to pay to have that sign restored when she arrives next year.
The write-up below is copied from an email newsletter I got today from Fitzgeralds, or The Fitz as they now like to call themselves since removing the giant leprechaun from the roof. In fact I got to see the remains of "Mr O’Lucky" at the Neon