Redlands California Temple
January 17, 2017
The bus ride from the Los Angeles Temple got me to Union Station in downtown Los Angeles by about 11 AM.
At 11:30 I paid $13.50 to catch the train for a two hour ride out to San Bernardino. From there I paid $1.75 to catch a bus to the Redlands Mall. I then transferred to another bus which dropped me off across the street from the temple close to 4 PM. It was about a 5 1/2 hour travel adventure to go the 81 miles from the Los Angeles Temple to the Redlands Temple using public transportation. I was amazed it was so cheap!
While waiting for the train I grabbed a do-it-yourself salad and drink at Union Station.
I didn’t know until I was across the street from the Redlands Temple that I had traveled uphill and now had a gorgeous view of the valley!
One of the buses got delayed which was critical–I had to be back by about midnight to catch my flight back to Denver. The last train leaving San Bernardino was at 7:47 PM. I did the math in my head several times to make sure I actually had time to see the Redlands Temple when you factor in all the buses. The beauty of the Redlands Temple and the surrounding areas was worth the worry.
There is something special about a California blue sky that has a little bit of a crisp feel to the evening air. The contrast between the huge Los Angeles Temple and the much smaller Redlands Temple was fascinating. There’s a stake center adjacent to the Redlands Temple.
I went in and did five initiatory names, checked out the beautiful celestial room, and then got dressed and went back to the bus stop. In about 10 minutes the bus picked me up and I was on my way back. I got back to the critical San Bernardino train departure about 45 minutes early. I’m on the train now as I’m writing this. Another $13.50 for the train ride which was well worth it!
I’ll wind up back in Los Angeles Union Station around 10 PM, catch the metro train back to LAX, breeze through the TSA pre-check, and then finally catch my breath as I await my 1 AM flight back to Denver.
A lot of sane people wouldn’t do what I just did. They certainly wouldn’t travel the distance I did just to try and make it to the Redlands Temple on the same trip. If anything goes wrong you could be stuck in California! One of the buses leaving from San Bernardino towards Redlands was delayed by 45 minutes. I calculated I had about two hours of safety margin to play with and I could still make all the connections.
Another thing is important: I could’ve given away FIVE Articles of Faith cards today to people I met along the way but I didn’t bring any with me! Two of those would’ve gone to two guys at a bus stop across the street from the LA temple; one to a guy who took an initial photo of me across the street from the LA temple, and two more to a husband and wife team who rode a bus with me out towards Redlands.
The feeling I had doing the initiatory work and doing the endowment this morning was marvelous. It was well worth the effort and it made for a wonderful and incredibly memorable day. I didn’t lay out the travel details before I came; I just figured it out once I got here and operated under the assumption that getting an early start at the Los Angeles Temple would help.
I love riding on trains, especially while visiting two of the Lord’s temples! This makes my 25th temple visited since January of 2017 and my second one in 2018!
Next stop? Phoenix in two weeks.
And they have three temples there…