Buckhorn Exchange

Leave it to my friend Mac to find unusual places to eat. A couple of months ago, he suggested Primanti Brothers Restaurant in Pittsburgh which turned out to be one of the biggest disappointments in my culinary experience. Today, he called me, telling me about the Buckhorn Exchange in Denver which has had plenty of reviews anywhere from Trip Advisor to television shows, such as Man Vs Food. Being the skeptic I am, I had my doubts but went along with it as well as another co-worker, Janey.

At 6:30 pm, we all converged on 1000 Osage Avenue, in Denver. Right away, I felt a little nervous for my car and accessories because it was slap in the middle of a Denver's housing projects. It was also across the street from one of the RTD light rail stations where a lot of "pants on the ground" types congregated. Nevertheless, I saw Janey drive up so we both entered the Buckhorn Exchange to wait for Mac's arrival.

Established in 1893, it has been in constant operation since then and has accommodated celebrities and politicians all through the years, including Teddy Roosevelt. It also holds Denver liquor license No. 1 that was issued in 1935. I might add, there hasn't been a lot of updating of the restaurant since then either.

Stuffed animals hang from the walls along with collections of ancient memorabilia such as rifles, pistols, clothing and pictures from days gone by.

Besides beef, the menu included Buffalo, Elk, Rattlesnake, Lamb, Cornish Hens, Quail, duck and the list goes on.

Our waitress addressed us in somewhat of a robotic attitude, explaining that the buffalo and elk would best be served medium rare. I eat nothing medium rare except vegetables so I endured the raised eyebrows of our waitress and ordered a combo of elk and buffalo cooked (you know it's never what you order) medium.

Even with my skepticism and the high prices, I did find it a pleasant evening. Counting our blessings for still having 4 tires on our vehicles, we split up to get back to our hotels.

Colorado Long weekend (Labor Day)

Nothing like a long weekend in some place you've never been before. Co-worker and friend, Janey planned to do a lot of driving and sight-seeing. Both of us, being flatlanders from Texas and Louisiana had already made up our minds, we wanted to check out mountains.

Saturday, we loaded up in Janey's rental and struck out for the Rocky Mountain National Park. Arriving in Estes Park, we grabbed a quick but delicious lunch at Smokin' Dave's Barbeque and entered the park. For reasons I'll never know, Janey took the dirt ATV road up the mountain. There were switchbacks that truly were not designed for long wheelbased Tahoe trucks. After what seemed like forever, we arrived at the top of the park covered in dust. At 13,000 feet, we found breathing to be a major effort when walking.

Along the way, we were treated to sights of elk, turkey and an unending panorama of mountains touching the blue skies.

Fortunately, we found an asphalt road for our return trip that took a third of the time and once again we were breathing thicker air at only 5,000 feet.

On the way home, we began to talk about never been to Aspen and before the day was over, we were making plans for a run over the mountains again the next day. Crashing for a few hours, Janey met me the next morning, heading out on the interstate this time. 3 hours later, we were in Aspen. I'm not sure what we were expecting but Aspen was somewhat of a letdown. We wandered the few streets in town, spent too much money for a questionable hamburger at Bad Billy's and soon found ourselves headed back to the Boulder area.

Even though it wasn't quite what we were expecting, it was a nice and decent trip that we can count in our bucket list.