Things to Do in Macon

Perry Country Club’s par 71 course sends golfers across 6,465 yards of bermuda-grass fairways sculpted through the towering pines. A vanguard of brand-new 2012 E-Z-Go golf carts slaloms across the emerald landscape, hastening the 18-hole odyssey as passengers take in views of native flowers and seek out treasure troves of divot tools buried in strategically placed sand traps. Rippling waterways dot the relatively flat course, adding to the verdant scenery as they wait to snatch the life force of errant drives or ill-struck approaches. Clubbers can prepare for their pin-hunting walkabout with a stint at the onsite driving range, and club members may cool off weary bodies or hot-tempered 9-irons during a postround dip in the club's outdoor pool.

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.