0.jpg | Jay and I decided to take a field trip to the Bahai Temple in Willmette, Illinois. This is the south-west side. 
1.jpg | The dome, which you tend to see first when approaching the temple.
01.jpg | This particular temple is also known as the "Mother Temple of the West", because it was the first house of worship built in the Western Hemisphere.
2.jpg | The temple was the second built and is the oldest one still standing, the first was destroyed by Soviet authorities in Ishqabad.
3.jpg | Jay standing outside in front of part of the gardens that surround the temple. He says he could never stick to the non-alcholol spritual rule... after spending time in Germany, I'd fail on that rule as well.
4.jpg | Inside the temple looking up. Similar to other temples of the Bahai, this one has 9 sides crowned with a dome.
5.jpg | A close up of the dome's center. Unlike several Catholic Churches I've visited, this place was honestly welcoming and airy and bright. 
7.jpg | There is a really nice 'welcome center' at the base of the building and inside they had all kinds of unique plant arrangements... this was one of them.
6.jpg | 'The <A href="http://www.us.bahai.org/" target="_blank">Bahai's</A> are part of a worldwide religious community united by the belief that there is one God, one human race, and one evolving religion.'
07.jpg | The Bahai faith is a combination of several religions, you can see symbols of several on the outside pillars. The symbol that resembles a swastika actually originates from Native Americans.
8.jpg | The entrance to the temple that began construction in 1912 and was formally dedicated in 1953. (fin)