MYRTLE BEACH, SC - The man with the devilish grin who welcomes me to America’s golf mecca says he’s taking me to see a Wizard and a Witch and later we’ll tackle a Man-O-War. Now he’s got me wondering: Is this the golf vacation I signed up for or the Harry Potter tour.

TORONTO - The only thing falling faster than the value of the Canadian dollar these days is the number of Canadians crossing the border into the United States.

PHILADELPHIA - Like a well-oiled machine, the kitchen crew at this city’s legendary cheese steak sandwich restaurant called By George! prepares each order in sync — flip the rib eye beef strips, squirt the Cheese Whiz, splash on some sauce, pile on the sautéed onions, pack it all into a bun and pass it down the line.

CHARLESTON, SC - Laurie Bonneau’s lovely moon-shaped face beams with pride as she shows the stranger a sweetgrass basket her 13-year-old son has made.

NEW ORLEANS - My chair shakes and the floor beneath it begins to sway. A chilling wind swirls around me and out of nowhere snowflakes start falling. My spine tingles at the sound of gunfire and loud explosions.

KOHLER, WI - If you’ve pegged Wisconsin as America’s cheese capital, give yourself credit. The state actually produces more than 600 different varieties of cheese. Golf fans, however, might know Wisconsin — Kohler, in particular — better as home of the American Club Resort and its famous Whistling Straits Golf Course (its sister course is Blackwolf Run) where in August (2015) the PGA Championship was held for a third time.

YOSEMITE, CA - How do you sing Happy Birthday to a tree? Lots of people will be doing just that this year as three of America’s most beautiful national parks, all located in California, celebrated important anniversaries in 2015.

SAN FRANCISCO - Some trips begin before you board the plane. When a San Francisco native recommended Robin Sloan’s Mr. Penumbra’s 24-Hour Bookstore, I was seduced in advance by his city.

LA JOLLA, CA - With the hang gliders silhouetted in a sky turned black and orange by the setting sun, and the last of the golfers finishing their rounds on the famed Torrey Pines Golf Course where PGA stars come to play, we begin our walk to where California drops off into the Pacific surf.

SAN DIEGO - There’s no better proof than this city’s famed Balboa Park that things do get better as they get older. And at 100, America’s most beautiful urban park never looked better.