The Neon Museum in Las Vegas.

I crossed off one of the items on my Bucket List: visiting the Neon Museum in Las Vegas. Ever since I’d heard of its existence I’ve wanted to see all of the old neon signs up close and personal in their final resting place.

The last time I was in town I tried to get a same-day reservation and learned that it frequently sold out. This time I made a reservation weeks ahead of time and had no problem.

My wife and I loved the hour-long tour. Las Vegas has a lot of colorful history and our tour guide did a fine job covering it as it related to the signs we saw. From the segregation in the 1950s to the family-friendly 1990s, the neon Vegas signs were products of their times.

We heard stories about Bugsy Siegel, Howard Hughes, and the Rat Pack in addition to the creators of the signs themselves, including Betty Willis, the woman responsible for the iconic Welcome to Las Vegas Sign.

It was a fun, informative tour and the hour flew by. I wish we could’ve had a few more minutes to take even more photos, but another group had already begun its tour. We were okay with that, though, since it gave us an excuse to do the night-time tour (with a few of the signs restored to their former glory) one day.