Temple Walk

 Saturday morning Rylie and I woke up early to take part in a 9 mile walk to the Portland, Oregon Temple.

We walked through neighborhoods, busy streets, across bridges and we got drenched in the rain. 

It was fabulous!

We saw some of the weird that keeps Portland weird.

 Along the way we stopped at three different check points to get water, oranges and to be accounted for.

Check. And we're off.

Look, there's the spires of the beautiful temple. But we still have so far to go...

 ( the temple spires are barely visible. but we are getting closer)

Along the way we tried to solve a riddle.

It goes something like this:

There's somebody sitting in a chair looking at a photo and he/she says this~

brothers and sisters have i none,

this man's father is my father's son.

Who is in the photo?

Hint: it's not the person sitting in the chair.

I never got it.

This is Rylie's adorable friend. I love her. She just makes me smile. Here we are trying to check our hair. But only because we were drenched and wanted to see if we looked like wet rats. Since we didn't have a mirror we decided to take a picture of us. No matter how many times we tried all we got was our faces.

Aren't we cute?

After 2 hours and 21 minutes we made it! Our friend had a fancy watch that tracked our distance and time. The distance we traveled was 9.44 miles. 

Such a beautiful, peaceful place.

The temple grounds are swimming in gorgeous flowers.

I loved every minute of this experience. 

Along the way I thought of the saints who crossed the plains. I can do hard things. I thought about how important it is for me to stand tall and be a witness of Him. I can make a difference in this world. I was reminded that my Heavenly Father loves me and that He desires my happiness. I am a Child of God. 

It's such a happy thing that a walk in the rain could be such a spiritual journey.