Downtown coming to life

After the hustle and bustle of the day we ended up back at the grounds to see the progress. This time the road that has been blocked off was open for the first time. So we drove closer to the down town area. We parked, and walked down to see how Eau Claire held up. When I watched the news last Friday I saw a raging river swallow Prince Island and Eauclaire. Today I was shocked to see it held up pretty well!

there were a few sink holes downtown, they are all cornered off. One we drove past when I looked down into it never seemed to end? This one is in front of Eau Claire. 

the walkways around the park area are closed off, anything close to the water is blocked for safety reasons. Checking for sink holes and the thick mud caked paths are slippery and dangerous.

I hope this shows how deep these footprints really go. This is not normally a mud path, it's a cement path, with that much mud left over from the passing waters.

We are on the bridge in the park, and you can see how some of the banks are chewed away.

I wonder where this tree started out?

The lighting tonight was beautiful, makes it hard to believe that 7 days ago, this was covered in water, now all that's left in this area are the muddy footprints. 

I'm not sure where these trailors started from, but we believe it was from the opposite side of the bridge. There is a stage sitting there surrounded by puddles. 

You can see some standing water in the lower areas. And the River Cafe.... is literally a River Cafe. It is gone :-(

Here you can see how fast and powerful the water was raging over these small trees and shrubs.

A beautiful site to see.... Downtown has power!

Memorial Drive is not a river anymore. You can hear pumps, or generators? we weren't sure what the machine was, but it was running past midnight. 

this was last week.

I guess this sign was left over from a running event that was supposed to happen along the Bow river.... so it seemed oddly out of place now, definitely the caution part holds true. The event set up.... not so much. 

Haha these signs will be all over the city soon!!

so this is the grounds after midnight. The sound of the machinery and trucks was amazing, they are working non stop! 

the power is on more than just the saddledome logo now. 

I'm still amazed at the progress, I know the housing areas are still a disaster, and houses are being marked for demolition. It's a tough thing to watch the heartbreaking stories. It's also tough to hear all the heartwarming stories, Calgarians are amazing!!  Slowly but surely the city is coming back from the deep.

this is us signing off... it was Dean's birthday, and it almost got lost in the chaos

.... so Happy Birthday Dean xo