An Animal Filled Day

Yesterday, Matt's parents and brother came into town to celebrate his graduation. We decided to take everyone to the Denver Botanic Gardens today but discovered it was closed when we got there. Some quick collaborative thinking led us to the Denver Zoo. It was a gorgeous day and perfect weather to be out walking around (even though we all got a little sunburned!)

Matt "kissing" a Komodo Dragon.

After the zoo, we went to eat at the historic Buckhorn Exchange, Denver's oldest restaurant established in 1893. The Buckhorn Exchange offers an interesting assortment of food, not found at your traditional restaurant including yak, ostrich, rattlesnake, and of course Rocky Mountain Oysters (Bull testicles for the lay person). We each decided that we would try something different and share.

The inside is completely adorned with heads of all kinds of animals. This is definitely not the place to go if you are a vegetarian or sensitive to the killing of animals.

The menu.

Alligator tail. Tastes like chicken.

Rocky Mountain Oysters. The first few bits were quite tasty (as long as you didn't think about eating Bull testicles) but the more we ate the less we liked them.

We figured we had to get a picture of everyone trying Rocky Mountain Oysters for the first time. I think the reactions on our faces speak for themselves!

I got lamb, Matt got Elk, Ben got Quail, Jan got Pork Ribs, and Bernie got Buffalo. Everything was so good!

Today was Ben's 27th Birthday so we had to embarass him a little bit. They gave him an amazing brownie that we demolished in a matter of minutes!