Columbia, South Carolina and Raleigh, North Carolina temples

Temple’s #50 & 51

Columbia, South Carolina 

and Raleigh, North Carolina. 

December 10, 2015

 

     Another day another two temples! Our trip heading back East was continuing to be a blast! We had driven past all the Southern states but Florida, and we're now in South Carolina. We spent the night there, and then woke up early to go to the temple. 

     As usual, instead of going into Columbia, we drove straight to the temple. South Carolina wasn't much different than the other southern states, and there was little to see that we really wanted to see. 

     The temple was another small temple, yet it was still exciting to go to. It was the fiftieth temple for us, which was really exciting. Yes, we still had about one hundred temples left to do, but our goal was moving forward and we were so excited!

     After the temple we went to Congaree National Park, which wasn't anything like the National Parks we were used to. It was small, with no entrance, and took twenty minutes to see it all. It was still really pretty, but was nothing more than trees and a little swamp with a boardwalk going throughout it. 

 

     We next drove to North Carolina. Now this is where our road trip changed. It still was thick with trees, but it had more hills, mountains in the West, and a beautiful coast with the outer banks. 

     Our first stop of course was the temple in Raleigh. We went straight there and went and did a session. The Raleigh temple was also a small temple, yet it had pretty murals inside as some small temples do. The murals were beautiful, and the entire temple was stunning. 

 

     Reading about the history of the temple on the church's website, we learned that a lot of miracles happened during building the temple and at the open house of the temple. Although it's a small temple, as was the Columbia temple, it attracted thousands of people to it, and brought lots of missionary work. 

     After the temple we went to a church building, which was next to the temple. It had a nativity festival going on at the church, with over a hundred nativities, and some musical groups performing. It was wonderful and we were able to feel the spirit of Christmas. 

     The next day we drove to the ocean to the outer banks, and walked along the beach there. It was beautiful there, and we really enjoyed it. While it was snowing back home in Utah, we were in shorts and walking on the beach. We had a warm winter while we were there back east.

 

     We loved the South and North Carolina temples, and especially the state of North Carolina. We then drove on the coast to our next destination, and couldn't wait. We were loving the temples, and couldn't wait to do more!