You may not have yet realize that many visitors to our valley fall under the spell of a very powerful curse. Fortunately it is a friendly curse just like the people here. It is the best curse I have heard of since it’s effect is to keep you coming back to Steamboat Springs, CO. If you are reading this from somewhere else I suspect you have a mild case and often wish you were back in Steamboat.  Stronger cases will cause your mind to wander frequently back her on its own, you will  start to reorder your life to be in Steamboat more, check the Steamboat Pilot everyday and the weather three times a day, find ways to live vicariously through the Steamboat Photo of the day or Steamboat Videos and finally move to Steamboat.

There are at least two versions of the Yampa Valley curse:
1) Once you have really experienced the Yampa Valley you will be cast under a spell and you’ll be destined to return again and again for the rest of your life.  I got a very good case of the curse the first time I visited Steamboat and then moved here about 20 years later.  My only regret is not moving about 16 years sooner but I do appreciate it more for waiting :).

2) If you live in the Steamboat area and leave, you will forever want to return and will not find the same level of happiness in any other place. I think regular visits would help you avoid the bad side effects but I don't see why you would ever leave myself. Practical things like a career pale in comparison to the power of the Curse of the Yampa Valley and the benefits of an active life here in Steamboat.

I recommend coming back soon or you will always wish you did. As Warren Miller says if you don't this year (why not month?) you will only be older when you do. Even though I live in Steamboat full time it makes me miss the valley very soon after I leave and brings me back quickly any time that I am out of the valley.