Missing High Tea With The Grand Champion Steer By Just Minutes

The National Western Stockshow's Grand Champion Steer and Reserve Champion Steer were invited to high tea at Denver's Brown Palace Hotel yesterday between 11:00 and 1:00. I had to drop my sister Susan off for a 1:00 P.M. hair appointment, but was hoping to get down there in time to photograph those two steers as they were led outside the hotel on their way back to the stock show. And I was so close - I could see the steers from a distance as I approached, but when I arrived they were already in the trailer, and the best I could do was get a photo of the Grand Champion Backside, as seen on the left. 

However, the Grand Champion Steer no doubt felt empathy for me, and looking through the slat on the side of the trailer, as seen in the photograph on the right, did it's best to pose for a portrait, bless it's little heart. Last year I actually made it inside the Brown to take photos, but was sad to find that the animals were confined to a small pen off the main lobby. Since they had been invited to high tea, I expected them to be given a place at the center of a large table, with bowls of tea and assorted biscuits in front of them, and stock show dignitaries and the steer's young owners seated on either side.  What a disappointment it was to find otherwise.

After those two steers were driven off to God knows what fate, I went into the lobby of the Brown Palace, where various cowboys and cowboy groupies were have a high old time at high tea, as seen in the photo on the left. This hotel has been around since 1892, and I have a sneaking suspicion that high tea might be a bit pricey. Although I have never had tea there, I did go to the Brown's Ship Tavern once on Christmas Day, for lack of anything else to do, and ordered a beer featured in the Denver Post that was made from water from beneath the Brown Palace Hotel. And yes, it did indeed taste like water, and at a premium price, too. As I recall, I drank my watery beer, shouted a "bah humbug" to the room at large, and went home. In any case, maybe next year those steers will finally be given a place at the table. One can only hope. Fair is fair after all.