Fort Lauderdale Florida Temple

Temple 119 
February 18, 2022

Fort Lauderdale, Florida

After a long, cold winter, we were more than excited to go south to the sunshine state of Florida! This trip had actually been somewhat planned for years. Ever since Ivy and I went on our honeymoon cruise to the Caribbean we wanted to go on another cruise. We had planned that the next cruise we did would be out of Southern Florida so that we could then do the Fort Lauderdale temple.

And that is exactly what we did. 

We didn’t do this trip alone though. Ivy's sister and her husband, Heidi and Trevor, and then my high school friend and his wife, Brad and Erin, all joined us in this adventure. 

We first flew into Miami and rented a car. We of course arrived late, as most trips do, and drove south down to the Florida Keys. We had planned to stay there for two nights and enjoy some time on the beach. We stayed a two minute walk from the beach in an Airbnb, which was a simple camper trailer parked at a trailer park type place. It sounds cheap, and it kind of was, but it was also a wonderful location close to some mangroves. There were kayaks and paddle boards there too and we ended up kayaking/paddle boarding through the mangroves and to the ocean. It was a blast!

    After our two nights in the Florida Keys of beaches and eating delicious food we made it to our cruise ship in the port of Miami. Were we excited to go! It had been years since our first and only cruise together, and so we couldn’t help but be excited. We had unlimited food, time to relax and sit in the sun, and no worries of money or travel that we had to take care of. Cruises are the easiest way to travel.

Covid did throw a little wrench on the party at first. We had to get tested two days before we boarded the ship, and so we did so in Las Vegas before our flight. We were all more than nervous that one of us would be positive and not be able to go, but the next day after the test we got our results back and we were all negative.

The cruise though, didn't turn out as great as we were hoping. The weather was pretty bad and was incredibly windy for the entire time. The first night was the worst and everyone got a little seasick. Our first stop we weren’t even allowed off the ship because it was so windy. Luckily we were able to get off the ship in Nassau, which was fun, but it was still a little breezy and cool. 

Yet, as windy and chilly as it was, we still had a blast. After four days we ended up back in Miami where we went and stayed in a condo on the beach. The weather was better and it was warm and sunny, but one thing guaranteed in Miami are the crowds. The beach was crowded and hard enough just to find a spot to sit.

The day we had planned to go to the temple we had some extra time, and we decided to drive into the heart of Florida, to the Everglades. The Everglades are endless marshes and swamps that stretch for miles upon miles through the center of Florida, and is one of the largest national parks. We took a boat tour while there and saw some crocodiles, baby ones and adult ones, which was really fun. 

Right after the Everglades tour we went straight to the temple. The temple seemed to be on the edges of the city, but was surrounded by wealthy, gated communities. It stood right next to a fairly busy freeway, which is always a perfect place to get a lot of people's attention. Tall palm trees surrounded it in a large semi-circle, and on the back side and to the south of it were two ponds. Flowers adorned the grounds and a perfect reflection pool and fountain sat out front to move your mind towards the living waters of Christ. All of this was wonderful and very welcoming, for at the same time back home there was snow and below freezing temperatures. 

One neat thing was that Ivy’s and Heidi’s mom’s aunt and some cousins live in the Fort Lauderdale area, and so we were able to meet them at the temple. We went inside to where we met them and then did a session. The interior of the temple was just as beautiful as the outside. There was stained glass, beautiful murals, and motifs of flora of the area. 

To me the best part of the entire temple experience though wasn’t the beauty of it all, but was the experience itself. To be able to go to the temple, in a distant state which almost seemed like a different country, with friends from high school and in-laws from home, was the best part. To be able to travel with people who have the same love for the temples is just wonderful and makes it that much better.

We stayed one more day in the Fort Lauderdale area, swimming and playing at the beach, and then went home the day after. It was hard to leave such a warm, sunny place, and to go back to snowy, mountainous, cold Utah. But that’s what makes traveling worth it, especially in february. It’s the perfect time to get away from the endless months of snow, and it was a good refresher to get us through the rest of the winter. 

But, one of the best parts of the trip was the temple, and because we live in Utah, we’re blessed with the opportunity to be able to go to multiple temples, all within an hour or two of our home.