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6/5/2019
Steamboat Springs
reconnecting with college buddy
Highlight of our one week Colorado trip was just an afterthought, a last minute decision a one night stay in Steamboat Springs. By chance I had emailed to one of my Syracuse University college house mates from 52 years ago. He generously invited us to stay with him at his above ranch. A now newly retired dentist, George had just sold his Colorado Springs home and moved up into the mountains here for the duration? Wanted to reconnect, to see how his life turned out and the invitation for horseback riding and trout fishing on his property was too tempting to pass up.
We immediately reconnected just like yesteryear. Colleen and his wife hit it off and this vacation human interest side story would probably appeal more to readers than the landscape pictures.
George was a house mate of mine at the Co-op #1 at SU for 2+1/2 years from '65 - '67. All the 20 some of us were close like brothers yet we were all independent and didn't stay in close contact after graduation. Our group was different from other SU students because most of us were from low income families. We co-operatively cooked our own food and cleaned our own house to keep room and board to perhaps one tenth of what typical students were paying. There was a bond there, however, and when I googled & contacted him a few years ago he was quick to want to reconnect.
George graduated in '67 majoring in Zoology my senior year of Forestry. He spent a great deal of time studying as English was merely his secondary language having poor immigrant Finnish heritage. He completed 4 more years of dental school at Columbia University and shortly thereafter headed to Colorado seeking a natural environment in which to live.
George's wife Jo Ann had been a high school sweetheart back in Elmont Long Island and followed him to SU. The dated there and I met her a few times when she attended a few Co-op functions. She lived in a nearby sorority Alpha Chi Omega and graduated in Mathematics. She picked up a law degree in Colorado and assisted with the dental business. Now a member of Sisters on the Fly an outdoor adventure group with vintage trailers.
After a few cocktails we had a pleasant lunch on their deck looking north over some of the 3000 acres accessible to the Creek Ranch Homeowners Association.
Recently George retired from his successful Mesa Ridge Dental practice where his son still works. Just sold his primary residence in Colorado Springs and moved into this summer ranch in Steamboat Springs for the time being. His investments with business partners in real estate ventures seems to have worked out pretty well. He also dabbled in a wine import export situation that seemed to be more for enjoyment that profit. We will have to call him King George from now on.
George, can I say it, is a hunting fanatic. His stuffed trophies of Buffalo, Mountain Lion, Black Bear, Grizzly Bear, Antelope, as well as skins from animals from Africa, Russian Siberia and elsewhere adorn his home. He'll be headed to the One Shot Antelope Hunt in Wyoming in September.
The small painted bronze sculptures on the mantel came from artist Dale Dillaou of Leadville, CO. He was a patient of George's and didn't have money for payment of services. Said he would send later. George forgot about it until the sculptures started arriving at his door.
When he took us trout fishing on the ranch property he pulled out his 22 cal pistol with silencer (legal in Colorado). Legal, it seems you don't even need a permit for a pistol, you just go buy one. He related a story to me that I had totally forgotten. Seems I took him down to my hometown of Virgil one weekend for his first hunt of woodchucks with Dad's .218 Bee. He said we shot one that was in a pasture with some dairy cows in the back ground. He took it back to the Co-op, fried and ate it. Remembered Dad's old '47 Harley which he was hesitant to ride on the back of with me driving. So, I can claim to have given George his start in hunting although he always had the love of nature in him. Amazing how it turned out.
At the ranch each of the 30 property owners has access to some 3000 acres of land. We had hoped to use some of the horses but they were tied up for other activities so we used the communal 4 wheeler to ride some of the trails from the headquarters barn. This is the spot where he shot his last Elk, I believe a year ago.
It was such a heart warming rewarding experience to reconnect after 52 years of not seeing someone you spent a significant amount of time with as you were becoming an adult. They were both so welcoming and compatible. We really had a bond that I don't think either of us realized existed. The memories were sketchy and a lot of water has gone under the bridge. It was so interesting to hear his life stories as I shared mine. It was like a time travel machine going back. And also as if we were back in college thinking about how our futures would turn out flashing forward.
One story he related rang the memory bell for me. He said he was doing some dental work for one woman in Colorado and she noticed he attended SU. She said she was there at the same time and lived near the Co-op. He mentioned that some sorority girls used to give a little bedroom window show to guys at the Co-op. Then she said, yes she knew about that as that was the sorority she lived in.
This was a nice after the storm sunset picture from his deck. The sky and clouds are amazingly beautiful in Colorado as clouds are created from the prevailing winds that come from the west and are squeezed up by the tall Rocky Mountains. The picture I failed to think to take had occurred a half hour prior. We were about to have dinner on a beautiful evening. Just when it was time for George to put the steaks on the deck grill a wild rainstorm erupted complete with lightening bolts. George had to go back and forth to the grill as the sky had darkened and he couldn't see how they were cooking. Had an umbrella in one hand and a plate and fork in the other. Wind whipping the umbrella, pouring sheets of rain, thunder and lightening. His yellow lab Jessie James was barking and shaking uncontrollably. It was a comical scene from the safety inside looking through the picture window to the grill.
Dinner turned out great. Jo Ann had used some magical marinate on the fantastic Colorado Angus Beef that is not to be under appreciated. Jo Ann snickered when I said George was one of our best cooks in college. I remembered looking forward to when spaghetti was listed on his menu assignment. But then again, how much can you expect from college boys cooking dinner.
We were put up on the third floor of the building that could be mistaken for a master suite in a normal home. Down the hall and across another balcony was the separate caretaker's quarters. In the middle of the night I gazed out the tall window and couldn't believe how big and bright the stars were. I tried to photograph them of course, but failed to produce anything useful. I've never stayed in a home this nice. In the morning I felt like a King.
You can buy this ranch if you want as George also has a home in Montauk Long Island that he might move into. It's indeterminate since his Landscape Architect daughter lives nearby and his Dentist son is down in Colorado Springs.
The women folk hit it off fabulously and I never knew how compatible George and I were. At college mostly we chatted on study breaks and you really don't fully know people. I expect we will get together in the future again. Maybe Montauk, Albany, Vermont, Cape Cod, Woodstock??? He has expressed interest in having a Co-op reunion but that would be difficult. I'm sure he'd be open to reconnecting individually. He did met up with Tom White in Boston on one occasion.
Had the renowned Gourmet Magazine cinnamon roll with berries at Winonas Cafe , just because.
All is not utopia, however. When we left him he was in the hospital. Not life threatening but a torn leg muscle that will need time for healing. He didn't make a big issue of it but was limping around in pain yet still entertaining us.
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