Manitou Springs update

Dear readers, I apologize for the long gap between posts! I had planned on sharing these photos a couple of weeks ago, but my job got a little crazy and I didn't have any free time at all. (For those of you who don't know, I'm a professional wedding and portrait photographer, and this time of year is very busy for me.)  Also, I took a quick little vacation to southern California to visit friends last week, so trying to get all my work done before I left, then getting caught up when I got back (not to mention shooting a big wedding in Fort Collins), well... let's just say it's been a little frantic over here!  But it's all good now, and I can finally post these pictures of Manitou Springs that I took a couple of weeks after the big flood of August 9th. (Click HERE to read about that.)

Thankfully, there hasn't been a huge amount of rain since the flood, although there have been a couple of uncomfortably close calls.  Manitou is still cleaning up the mess, so cross your fingers and hope that we can get through to the winter with mild weather and no major thunderstorms. As you can see, evidence of the flood is still everywhere, although everyone's open for business, so please do visit Manitou and do some shopping or dining if you're in the area!

Normally tame, Fountain Creek raged over its banks in a matter of minutes. Unfortunately it runs right through the main drag. Anything in its path was immediately flooded.

Canon Avenue was hard hit. All the businesses on this stretch of the road were inundated.

But as you can see, thanks to the countless volunteers who pitched in to clean up, everyone was back in business as quickly as they could muster!

The entrance to beloved local artist Charles Rockey's studio and storefront. I was devastated when I heard how badly he was flooded. I love his art. It's beautiful.

The Dulcimer Shop, owned by the family of my friend Bud. The basement, where all of their woodworking tools and equipment are located, was badly flooded.

Sandbags are everywhere you look.

I really hope that the town of Manitou can (QUICKLY) come up with a way to mitigate flash floods so that this doesn't happen again. I would hate to see my friends go through another event such as this.