Things to Do in Albany

At Rose Bowl Lanes, the sound of scattering pins against wood rolls from 20 synthetic lanes like summer-afternoon thunder. Automatic scoring systems track play, and lights wired into every lane cast a festive glow. A thumping overhead sound system sways the crowds with high-octane tunes, and smells drifting from the alley's grill hint at nachos and other fare. At a full-service bar, glasses clink together as bowlers linger and discuss the best ball weight for making trick shots or confusing carnival weight guessers.

Near the end of the 18th century, Colonel Samuel Hugh Hawkins and the people of Americus decided a new train line was needed to ensure that their town would continue to grow and prosper. The resulting line, called the Savannah, Americus, and Montgomery, helped spur development throughout rural Georgia, and the historic SAM Shortline trains that now traverse its rails pay tribute to both the early line and its founder with the name. Vintage cars from 1949, transformed into comfortable, air-conditioned passenger liners, steer passengers through Georgia's landscape in five tours, with layovers encouraging riders to explore the towns of Plains, Americus, Leslie, and Cordele. A stop in Plains, the hometown of President Jimmy Carter, grants an up-close view of the stateman's boyhood home, campaign museum, and White House replica built entirely from peanuts. Between stops, a well-stocked commissary car lets rail-riders feast on à la carte items, including snacks, hot and cold beverages, and refreshing ice-cream treats.

Spotlight Theatres Eisenhower 6 screens enrapture audiences with first-run movies. In each movie house, digital sounds and visual projections of fresh Hollywood films alight inner emotions of audiences resting in plush, high-backed stadium seats—each outfitted with a coin-operated mustache comb—or thrown directly into the action through 3-D technology. As eyes and ears relish motion-picture pursuits, soda, candy, and bounties of salty, crunchy popcorn emerge from the concession stand to occupy chatty mouths or catapult towards the screen to feed the hungry actors.

Gravestones peek up from the 70-acre field—just one of the defensive playing structures warriors can duck behind to avoid that colorful, game-ending splotch. Elsewhere amid Blackwater’s multiple courses, they scale castle walls, find refuge behind stacked tires, and let out intimidating war cries while attempting to bounce between inflatable structures. Players fire off rounds of RPS-custom field paint from semiautomatic rifles, using downtime between games to refill CO2 bottles and 200-round hoppers at Blackwater’s on-site shop.

In the year 2000, after hundreds of hours of yoga practice, workshops, and conferences, Tanya Edwards's hard work culminated in the opening of her very own studio, Art of Yoga. And today, alongside her team of certified yoga teachers, Tanya helps practitioners of all experience levels build strong bodies and sound minds with an eclectic teaching style grounded in the Hatha yoga tradition. The serene, sage-colored studio heats up to a balmy 95 degrees during hot yoga, a 90-minute routine of stretching and sweating that encourages the body to expel harmful toxins, such as liquefied body parts of T-1000. Other class styles include a gentler restorative class, an intense core-centric yoga class, and a Bollywood fusion class that infuses low-impact Eastern dances with Western fitness techniques.