November 2, 2019

Raleigh North Carolina Temple

It pays to check your emails. That is the moral of the story for my visit to the Raleigh North Carolina Temple today.

Closed for remodeling for 20 months, it just reopened three weeks ago 🙏. Consequently, it was PACKED today 👍

Travel Arrangements for the Raleigh North Carolina Temple

On July 1st I booked a round-trip ticket to fly from Baltimore to Raleigh Durham for $68. The flight was supposed to leave at 6 AM and depart Raleigh at 10 PM.

On July 19 Spirit Airlines sent me an email telling me the flights had changed but I didn’t look at it. Until yesterday. The new flight was leaving at 2:30, arriving at 3:45, returning at 4:30, and arriving back in Baltimore around 6 PM. That wouldn’t work.

The Audible

I quickly checked Amtrak and found a one-way fare for $60 but it would leave before I had time to get down to Union Station in Washington DC. Next I checked Southwest Airlines and found out their last minute one-way flight was $245. Strike two. Finally I checked Megabus and found a $39 bus trip one-way that would leave at 11:20 PM and arrive in Durham North Carolina at 5 AM. So I booked it. Here’s what the bus station looks like at Union Station around 10:30 pm.

The Bus Ride

The bus ride was about five hours. It arrived at the Durham Transit Center about an hour before the transit center opened at 6 AM. It was a little cold and I had a jacket so I headed out for a Marriott hotel when I saw their sign about four blocks away. Upon arrival they told me they don’t open up the lobby to the public until 7 AM.

I just wanted a place to lay down and finally found an open market with Christmas lights strung over the tables at the end of which there was a vacant bench. NOBODY was on the streets of Durham. I laid down for about 45 minutes then headed back to the transit center.

Cheap Bus Fares

The number 700 bus would take me down to the Raleigh area. It was only $4.50 for an all day pass on the bus system so I snapped that one up real quick. I arrived in Raleigh around 7:30 only to find out that the bus that would’ve taken me to the temple only runs Monday through Friday. So I took the 100 bus at the transfer station over to the Raleigh Durham Airport.

I was thrilled upon entering to see some long benches, padded, without any armrests. I quickly laid down and slept for two hours.

Hello Nephew!

At this point my stud nephew Jonathan, who had driven 3 1/2 hours to come and meet me, picked me up at the airport. We headed straight for the temple and were fortunate to join in on a sealing session.

Going to the temple with family. It doesn’t get any better than this 🙏

The temple was packed with people and on Saturdays it runs on an appointment only basis. Around 11:30 we were done and headed straight for Al’s Burger Shack in Chapel Hill, home of America’s number one burger.

Al’s Burger Shack

In 2018 Al’s Burger Shack won the award for America’s best burger. It’s called the Bobo Chili Cheeseburger. And yes, it was great!

On to Durham!

After lunch we drove around Chapel Hill then went 8 miles north to Durham, North Carolina, home of Duke University.

Thank You Duke!

I think his name is Hollister. He’s a volunteer at Cameron Indoor Stadium. He graduated from Duke in 1961, having played basketball, baseball, and one other sport there.

He gave me a quick one on one tour of the famous basketball arena. I loved it!

The Raleigh North Carolina Temple is my 67th temple visited since January 2017. During its remodeling it was completely dismantled down to the foundation, then built back up again.

Hats off to whoever designed the stake center immediately across the parking lot too. It’s one of the most beautiful and big stake centers I’ve ever seen! I love the light colored stone work.