Highlands Ranch, Colorado. Friday – Sunday, July 19–21, 2024
One of the more obscure Supremes songs, but one that sticks in my mind, is 1971’s Floy Joy. One of my favorite groups is Pink Floyd. It all fits, since my longtime buddy and med school classmate Floyd Russak is quite musical. He plays the guitar, and over the years we’ve had fun singing songs together.
I mentioned him three years ago, when I was riding by Northwestern University in Illinois. where Floyd met Karen while they were undergraduates, they both came to DC to attend George Washington University, he in the medical and she in the business school. We were quite active in left-wing politics together back then, both in the public health service, we paid back our scholarships in Massachusetts, after doing internal medicine residencies in separate hospitals in Cambridge. Floyd is a native of Colorado, so he returned here and began a series of private practices. The first was a fusion of eastern and western medical philosophies, he worked in an ER in Aspen (and purchased a couple of hotel rooms there, he put me up in one of them), and now he has a concierge practice. Karen manages the business of both the practice and their beautiful home. By happy coincidence, that home is right across University Boulevard from the CCRC where Steven and Karen Moore live. Two of my favorite couples, right across the street from each other, having arrived from far away. How lucky is that?
Floyd and Karen had to work Friday, so I took a leisurely ride on the meandering Highline Canal to check out his practice. The Highline Canal is a dream—flat, beautifully landscaped, reminiscent of my beloved C&O Canal, but in much better shape.
We had dinner that night in Le French, which was just as magnifique as it sounds.
Saturday, at another posh restaurant, Sierra
I finally got a chance to see these wonderful friends, who live so close but have never met, get together.
We moved on to Lookout Mountain, 2,000 feet above the city, for the Buffalo Bill Museum and grave.
There’s some controversy about whether he is really buried here, or in the town he founded, Cody, Wyoming, that I visited a month ago. https://history.denverlibrary.org/news/western-history/buffalo-bill-cody-really-buried-lookout-mountain
Then it was off to another echo of previous places. Three years ago, I passed Chautauqua, New York, and ruminated about the central a role it played in my life, and how it spawned the Chautauqua movement. Three weeks ago I encountered a remnant of that movement, the Tank Center for the Sonic Arts, in Rangely Colorado. Now Floyd and Karen treated me to a terrific concert from the a cappella group Straight No Chaser
at the Colorado Chautauqua, the only other permanent Chautauqua in the country. https://www.chautauqua.com/2021/chautauqua-movement-history/ Just seeing the name, and the logo, brought back such warm memories. Such a night.
The next morning, we sang songs together, shared stories, and I said goodbye to the Russak family.
No cycling or hiking these two days, just sightseeing and schmoozing. Heaven.
©️ 2024 Scott Luria
The Ends of the Earth 