But before we went there, we went here, to Denver's OTHER Natural History Museum. The Buckhorn Exchange. There were a couple of children, but no crowds, and they were quite well behaved.
I hope you can read the plaque to the right. because it tells the story of the Buckhorn the way it needs to be told. But in addition to being Denver's oldest, and one of its best, wild game restaurants (so says Tripadvisor anyway) this place has been collecting game trophies and memorabilia since before Teddy Roosevelt was president. In fact, you can see some of his African trophies on the walls since the owner of the restaurant went as one of his guides on safari there.
If you visit Denver and choose to dine at the Buckhorn don't expect to find it in the 'Old Historic District Downtown' Denver. In fact, I encourage you not to be discouraged by the neighborhood you'll drive to to find this treasure. Its not rough, just not picturesque.
After all, the Buckhorn was built to meet the needs of the rough railroadmen who worked just across the street in the Union Pacific yards. The yards have changed, and the light rail line now stops in front of the Buckhorn, not 2-6-4 steam engines. But the Buckhorn has changed little. Except for the free first beer to the first 100 customers every workday at lunch. I missed that one.
The first person you'll probably meet if you visit the Buckhorn Exchange will be Renell. She told us she has been greeting folks at the Buckhorn for over 25 years but that she is one of the 'rookies' in the place. We saw several younger, maybe college age, folk about, and they were extremely helpful and kind. But there are obviously some very experienced servers, chefs, etc on this staff.
How do we know? We met some of them, and we enjoyed our food immensely. In fact, we shared our meal and still received too much in portions of the high quality buffalo, salmon, and German Apple Pie a la' mode. Yes, we both ate most of our days calories at one sitting.
The Buckhorn is still famous for the famous it attracts, but it was nostalgic to see the many pictures and personal signatures of the past famous on the walls everywhere.
This was a place everybody who came to Denver had to visit, and it is growing in reputation again.Both of the two floors, including the upper deck chuck wagon room used for large party's, are packed with animal trophies and souvenir's of all kinds. Many of
them museum quality.
The Buffalo Bill room honors the man who brought the Wild West into the big cities of the world and who is buried now on Lookout Mountain just west of Denver.
The stairway to the second floor is filled with pictures, ads, and a working old timey telephone.
Some of the guns that brought down these very beasts are on display in every room.And at the top of those stairs is the original German bar, backboard and mirrors made in the 1850's.
But lest you think this place is all about history, art, and personalities of the past, take a look at these samples of the silly found at the Buckhorn too.
And for the piece de' resistance this rare specimen is one I have never seen displayed in any other museum or cabinet of curiosities. What is it? Well, consider this riddle:
What is only attached to half of its species but needed by both halves?
What species? Well, a hint:
One hangs from the ceiling somewhere in almost every natural history museum anywhere, but this particular part of the huge mammal is Not on display, at least anywhere the kiddies might see.
As far as that other natural history museum? Those pics will be on Facebook. They are just normal dinosaur bones and rocks.
-Ken
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