AMERICA continues to amaze me. I may have sounded a bit down on the place in last week’s missive, but that wasn’t my intention.

This is probably a once-in-a-lifetime trip and, largely, I am loving the place.

Take our arrival. It took about two minutes on the ground for Los Angeles to knock Australia’s multiculturalism into a hat. Before we’d cleared customs we’d dealt with white Americans, black Americans, Italian Americans, Puerto Ricans and a Filipino.

Then our shuttle driver was a Jamaican. Our hotel was managed by a Bangladeshi. I know there are some places in Australia with a bit of variety but this was all over LA. And in Las Vegas. It’s amazing.

ALONGSIDE these many cultures, there are dog people. Everywhere. Now you may think you’re a dog person, but I doubt your pooch is as pampered as a Yankee Doodle Poodle. You see, if you have a dog over here, you have to treat it as a member of the family. I’ve heard there’s something in their Constitution about it.

This extends right down to taking it on holiday with you.

Anywhere.

Even if you’re staying at a Las Vegas casino.

Yes, they really do.

It’s something your humble correspondent was blissfully unaware of, so picture this, if you will… I had survived my first experience of driving on the wrong side of both the car and the road. This drive from LA to our Vegas hotel was almost a five-hour, white-knuckled, steering-wheel-gripping frenzy (Note: Playing “Grand Theft Auto V” for hours before departing had not prepared me for this in any way).

All I wanted to do was get to my room. Waiting in the lift lobby, I was joined by a woman with a large-ish dog on a lead. Before my brain could say: “Wait, what?”, the lift doors opened. And duly revealed a man with an even larger dog and lots of barking ensued. “It’s okay, I’ll catch the next one,” I muttered as the doors closed.

OTHER than the plethora of dogs, which were everywhere, Vegas was still more fun than I thought it was going to be. Sure, there are seemingly hundreds of casinos, many of which still present a facade of catering to the everyday gambler with low-limit tables and pokies. These days they charge for everything else, with the possible exception of air. The old reputation of cheap food and booze while you’re playing? Gone in most places. And not necessarily replaced by quality.

But if you don’t gamble, or if you decide a couple of spins on the roulette wheel is more than enough for you, there are shows. Hundreds of them, and most of them quality.

And every casino has at least one gimmick. Ours had a zipline from the 50th floor of one tower to the roof of another tower which victims did at 30+ miles per hour… at a cost.

It also had indoor, glow-in-the-dark, KISS-themed mini-golf, which opened on the day we arrived. The staff I spoke to were thrilled about this because it meant there would finally be something for kids.

I asked one staff member why parents leaving kids in the car while playing at the casino hadn’t caught on like it did in Australia a few years ago. Surprisingly, that didn’t go over well.

The downtown part of Vegas, which is not the Strip, is undergoing a bit of a renaissance at the moment. The older casinos and hotels are renovating and offering more affordable options. And the council is helping out.

There’s also a container village now, and in Vegas, it works. It has an adult-sized treehouse in a play area, three levels of stores and eateries, and it’s located close to the city centre, within walking distance of other attractions.

Oh, it also has a gigantic flame-throwing, rock-music-playing praying mantis. That helps a bit, too.

Chris Coleman is the drive announcer on 2CC .