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One year living in Steamboat Springs, and I've yet to lose the weird sensation that overcomes me when I visit a larger city.

I was in Denver four days last week to cover Hayden and Soroco high school wrestlers in the state tournament, and venturing from small-town Steamboat to big-city Denver was an eye-opening experience.

Everything feels like a treat, every storefront seemingly holding a pile of treasures the likes of which just can't be uncovered in Steamboat.

I felt like Laura Ingalls Wilder walking into the town store after a year on the prairie. Or maybe it was Pa I felt like, though I was more focused on treats and less focused on hunting for plow shares and food for my livestock.

The best treat of all came in the form of big sports bars well stocked with food, beer and TVs.

That's not entirely to diminish Steamboat's stock of sports bars. I'm certainly a regular patron of The Tap House, Slopeside, The Boathouse Pub and the like.

None offer full late-night menus, however. Patrolling the streets after a late, deadline-pushing night covering Routt County wrestlers, I'd never been so happy to find so much available after 12:30 a.m.

I hit up Rock Bottom Brewery for the regrettable Bourbonzola Burger, then made stops at late-night standby Old Chicago and handy eateries - Brooklyn's across the street from the Pepsi Center and Braun's Bar and Grill next door to the arena.

Braun's proved an especially lucky choice, and more than anywhere else made my mouth water for a night in the city. A classy joint, it featured great food - the BBQ chicken bacon sandwich was a winner - and a great atmosphere.

The upstairs was as solid a sports bar as can be found. Two giant high definition televisions - real high definition on all channels, not stretched out analog broadcasts - sat behind the bar. Smaller HD TVs surrounded each, making viewing two or three games at a time easy.

The whole place was large and a wide selection of beer was on tap. It was made even better by an "industrial strength sports bar" that waited in the basement. Gone was the classy atmosphere of upstairs, but in its place were just as many TVs and a floor designed to look like a hockey rink.

Now it's back to Steamboat for me - back to trivia at Tap House and aprÃs at Slopeside. Certainly that's no punishment, but it was nice to change things up, if only for a few days.