Anyone that knows me, knows that I am borderline obsessed with the town I grew up in. If you play golf, you’ll understand my obsession with the town of Pinehurst, North Carolina. While it is considered a small town, it is always full of tourists and golfers from around the country and even around the world. A popular spot that tourists come to visit is the Pinehurst Golf Resort. The Pinehurst Resort consists of three historical hotels, and the famous Pinehurst No. 2 golf course and clubhouse, most recently home of the 2014 U.S. Open Championships. My favorite place within the resort is The Carolina Hotel.

The Carolina Hotel is a massive, century-old upscale hotel on the resort grounds. In the heart of the Village of Pinehurst, the hotel seems to take you back in time to the turn of the 20th century. When first opened on New Year’s Day of 1901, The Carolina Hotel was the largest frame hotel in North Carolina. The Pinehurst Resort was designed by famed landscape architect Fredrick law Olmsted. The historical hotel recalls a more peaceful and elegant time. Through the grandiose ballrooms and dining rooms, the hotel exudes elegance. Every time I go back to visit my grandparents that still live in Pinehurst, I make sure that we make dinner reservations for the Carolina Dining Room. The Carolina Hotel is one of those places that is so expansive and intricately designed, visiting and exploring the resort grounds never grows old. If you ever find yourself on the East Coast, don’t underestimate a visit to the historical Pinehurst Golf Resort.

This cathedral is hard to miss at the University of Notre Dame. The Basilica of the Scared Heart is the Roman Catholic Church on the university’s beautiful campus in South Bend, Indiana. The Basilica serves as the mother church of the Congregation of Holy Cross in the United States. The neo-gothic style church is breathtaking with 44 intricate stained glass windows and mural completed over a 17-year period by a Vatican painter, Luigi Gregori. With the basilica’s bell tower standing at 218 feet high, it is the tallest University chapel in our country. Ranked among the top most beautiful churches in the country and around the world, it is an unbelievable architectural sight. With the school being my parents’, grandparents’, aunt, and two uncles’ alma mater, this cathedral (and the campus itself) has played a prominent role in my life. Some of my most fond memories have been attending Midnight Mass at the cathedral on Christmas Days, which I will be doing again this year!