An Evening at the Buckhorn Exchange

So, here are the pictures from our fun evening out on the town at the old-fashion Buck horn Exchange for our Valentine's Anniversary. It was 11 years ago that Mike asked me to marry him on the grounds of the Las Vegas temple. It was a beautiful warm day in sunny Las Vegas. We had driven down from Provo to stay with my family. It was the first time that Mike had met my parents and younger brother Reed and younger sister Tiffany. The story goes that Reed raided my mom's jewelry box and pulled out a ring and placed it in a ring box that was evidently near by. He then gave it to Mike and told him to use it. He then used the ring when he proposed. After I got over the initial surprise of the proposal, I took a closer look at the ring and found it to be strangely familiar. Almost familiar enough to the point of thinking that I have worn this ring before, which I had. Ah, good times and better memories. Happy Anniversary dear, I sure love you, you are the best.

So, back to the Buck horn. Due to the fact that I am a history nerd, please permit me to provide some background information to the restaurant's long and sordid history. The name was originally The Buck horn Restaurant located right across the train tracks of the Rio Grand Railroad Yards in Denver. Right around the year 1894, the work whistle would blow at noon and all the railroad workers would cross the tracks and pour into the saloon/restaurant. H.H. Shorty Scout Zietz, the owner would give gold and silver for the paychecks of the workers along with a token for a free lunch and beer. Soon, the name of the restaurant became the Buck horn Exchange because so many workers would come for the free lunch and how many workers only got one beer? Or so the story goes. The Buck horn has hosted many famous people including Theodor Roosevelt, Sitting Bull's nephew, Dwight Eisenhower, Jimmy Carter, Ronald Reagan, Bob Hope, James Cagney just to name a few. We ordered the house specialty (one of two) that was created by T. Roosevelt when he and the owner went on a hunting trip up in the mountains near Glenwood Springs. Legend has it that T. Roosevelt made the famous navy blue bean and ham soup while on the trail and then gave the recipe to Shorty and it has been on the menu since then. It was so good!