Visiting LDS Temples

There's something special about TEMPLES.

All of them.



They're
PEACEFUL, BEAUTIFUL, SACRED.


During our month long holiday, we had to opportunity to visit and walk around a lot of them. 17 to be exact. Cam and I didn't have the time to spare to allow us to go inside, but we enjoyed spending the time to take our kids here and walk around the grounds and visit the visitor centres and take in some of their displays.

Here's a look at the ones we visited....

SPOKANE WASHINGTON TEMPLE


COLUMBIA RIVER TEMPLE


OAKLAND TEMPLE
Okay, this temple was simply breath-taking! Might just be our favorite temple that we visited. It wasn't just the temple, it was the amazing view, the roof-top gardens, the small unique details like the statues...
Up on the roof of the temple, there are additional gardens and the most incredible views.


LOS ANGELES TEMPLE


SAN DIEGO TEMPLE
Always one of our favorites. A little disappointed it was closed and we couldn't walk around the grounds for this one.


NEWPORT BEACH CALIFORNIA TEMPLE

REDLANDS TEMPLE


LAS VEGAS TEMPLE



ST. GEORGE UTAH TEMPLE



PROVO UTAH TEMPLE
Cam says this is one of his favorite temples because he could see it out his bedroom window when he was a little boy and he used to live in Provo for a few years.



MOUNT TIMPANOGOS UTAH TEMPLE
This is the only temple we went and saw in the evening when it was all lit up.


DRAPER UTAH TEMPLE



OQUIRRH MOUNTAIN UTAH TEMPLE



JORDAN RIVER UTAH TEMPLE
I thought this was a very pretty temple.



BOUNTIFUL UTAH TEMPLE


SALT LAKE CITY TEMPLE
Ha ha. This picture totally looked like I pasted them into it.



IDAHO FALLS TEMPLE
Unfortunately, this temple was under construction and the grounds were not open.

Well, that's it. I know it was a long posting. Believe me, I know. It took me forever to sort through all 2800 pictures to find these ones.
Anyways, I know it's a lot of photos, but I'm hoping that in them, you'll see some new angles of some temples your familiar with. Something new you might not have seen. Some small detail that just adds to why we love to walk around the temple grounds.

Holiday Statistics

I'm back. It's kind of bitter-sweet. You know, I thought after a whole month that I'd be just itching to get home, but I'm not. I actually could have been gone longer.... though I'm in dire need of more home cooked meals and less eating out. The thought of eating another burger is kind of repulsing to me (wow! I never thought I'd ever say that!) and the fact that I can use a clean bathroom to use is so nice.

Anyways, I thought I'd start by giving some statistics on our holidays. I think they're interesting. I hope you do too....

• # of days of holidays -- 32
• # of different locations we stayed at -- 12
• total distance we drove -- 8460km
• # of hours in the car -- 134 hours
• # of pictures taken -- 2809 (though, there's duplicates, so hopefully I can cut that down a lot)
• # of hours of video recorded -- 4 hrs 20 min
• lowest daytime high temperature -- 20C
• highest daytime high temperature -- 48C
• # of days of rain -- 0 (though we had drizzle one morning from thick fog and we drove through rain one day)
• # of LDS temple grounds we visited -- 17
• # of days spent at theme parks -- 7
• # of States that we visited -- 8 (Idaho, Washington, Oregon, California, Nevada, Arizona, Utah, Montana)
• # of meals we ate out -- 35 (I cringe when I see that number)
• # of geocaches found -- 44

I'm still around

Wow! Has it really been OVER a MONTH since I last blogged??
I'm still around..... sort of. Actually, we've been on a month long trip. That's right, a whole month or 4 1/2 weeks.
That's a long time. It feels like a long time.
Currently, we're on day 24 out of 32!!

I'm sitting in our tent trailer in Anaheim. Today will be a day of going to church, visiting the Newport LDS Temple and spending the rest of the afternoon at the beach. I have a feeling, today might be the hottest day we've had since we've left. Here's something to make you jealous over.... in the 24 days, we've had all beautiful weather! Our coolest day was around 20C and our warmest was 33C (well, we drove through hotter, but we didn't get out and spend time in it) We've had NO RAIN or other crappy weather.... though, we did have a morning of very thick, dense, wet fog that was almost like a drizzling rain, but it was just for the morning and then we packed up and drove out of it. Here's hoping that our last 8 days will give us equally nice weather.

Anyways, I'll start to blog about some of our trip later today probably. We've done a lot and there's a lot to share. Stay tuned.