Snow Arrives, Valley Horses Do Well, Food Drive, New Community Center, More

Now That We Have Some Snow in the Area:  Keep doin' the dance 'cause it's working as we saw some significant snow in the Tahoe area this week and the ski resorts are opening more of their terrain every day (see proof on Heavenly web cams).  We had no doubt (OK, we had a little doubt), so the Carson Valley Inn's 2014/2015 Ski Packages are ready to book!  We also have a special Epic Pass Hotel Rate for those who have one of the 2014/2015 Epic Passes for the northern Nevada Vail Resorts properties which include Heavenly, Kirkwood and Northstar.  Also, keep an eye open for a special ski package on the weekend after the Super Bowl . . . more to come.

California Chrome Wins Big, CVI Owner Mike Pegram's Horses Also Do Well: Horse racing had quite a local tie this past weekend from California to Kentucky to New York! Mike Pegram's colt Hoppertunity, a 2014 Kentucky Derby favorite who was scratched days before the Derby with a foot bruise, roared back with a win in the Grade 1 $500,000 Clark Handicap at Churchill Downs last Friday. On Saturday, Mike's past Breeders' Cup winner Secret Circle finished 2^nd in the Cigar Mile at Aqueduct Park in New York. Meanwhile, on the West Coast, Steve and Carolyn Colby's California Chrome won the Hollywood Derby at Delmar. And on Sunday, Midnight Hawk came in third in his race at Delmar. "Hawk" is owned by Mike in partnership with Chicago Blackhawks Coach Joel Quenneville, Blackhawks assistant coach Mike Kitchen, Altanta Falcons offensive line coach Mike Tice, and John Sikura's Hill 'n' Dale Equine Holdings. Oh, one more: Mike's SECRETSATMIDNIGHT won the previous Saturday, November 22 at Delmar.

It's Christmas Kickoff Weekend in the Carson Valley with plenty of visual and experiential events guaranteed to get you into the holiday spirit.

• Here at the Carson Valley Inn, Candy Cane Lane is lit up nightly through December – enter at the large electronic sign and follow the lighted arch. Inside the CVI, our Christmas decorations are all up, so be sure to check them out.
• The Dangberg Home Ranch for the Holidays Toy Exhibit runs through December 10 from 10 am to 4 pm.
• The Gardnerville Christmas Tree Lighting and Fireworks are Thursday evening at Heritage Park.
• Caroling, Tree Lighting and Santa are all on the docket Friday evening in Genoa.
• The Minden Gazebo and Tree Lighting Festivities are also Friday evening in Downtown Minden and Minden Park, just a short walk from the CVI.
• Breakfast with Santa is Saturday morning at the Genoa Town Hall
• The Douglas County Historical Society Annual Holiday Gala is midday Saturday at the Carson Valley Museum and Cultural Center
• The Carson Valley Chamber's Annual Parade of Lights is Saturday evening ending in Downtown Minden.

The KTVN Channel 2 Share Your Christmas Community Food Drive is coming up fast on Friday, December 12 at the RV Park entrance from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m.  United Blood Services is again holding a Blood Drive from 11:30 to 5:30 at the site of the Food Drive. To schedule an appointment or find out more, click here.  And if you absolutely can't make it next Friday to donate food, you can always buy a $10 bag (or a few) at the Gardnerville Raley's – all that food winds up at the Food Drive that afternoon.  As for our KTVN On-Air crew of Adam, Chloe and Arianna . . . guess which one enjoys cooking and traveling to San Francisco, which one enjoys coaching basketball and working with animals, and which one harbors a healthy obsession with Lake Tahoe?

Hidden Mickeys Can Bring You $100 Worth of Food and Beverage in CV Steak: This is a pretty simple "contest." Mixed in among the many hundreds of Christmas decorations inside the Carson Valley Inn are 9 Mickey Mouse themed Christmas ornaments. In Disney parlance, these are called Hidden Mickeys. So how does this tie to $100 Worth of Food and Beverage in CV Steak? For every correct location you identify (shoot us an email by clicking here) before the deadline, you'll be entered once into our Hidden Mickey contest. We'll hold a drawing on December 23 and the winner will be notified by email. $100 in CV Steak goes a long way . . . So why not look around and let us know where you see our Christmas Hidden Mickeys.

Reno Shuttle Going Well: The folks at Amador Stage Lines told us that the Carson Valley Airporter scheduled shuttle service between the Carson Valley and Reno is going very well. Make you plans now to use this service if you are flying out of town for Christmas or New Years.  Also a great way for out-of-town visitors to get between the Reno Airport and Carson Valley!

New Senior and Community Center: Congratulations to Douglas County on the long-anticipated opening of the Douglas County Community and Senior Center this Saturday! The Grand Opening and Open House starts at 1:00 p.m. at the impressive new facility at 1329 Waterloo Lane in Gardnerville. A great opportunity to tour the 83,000 sq. ft. building which includes a wide variety of services and state-of-the-art amenities.

Throw Down for Best Sandwich: The carsonvalleytimes.com "Sandwich Wars" started earlier this week with four Katie's favorites on the nomination round ballot: The Big Bird, The French Dip, The Nevadan and The Monte Cristo. Still plenty of time to add more of your Katie's favorites and start voting! Need a reminder on what Katie's offers? Click here to go to the lunch and dinner menu.

As Always, Interesting, Helpful and Even Useful Tidbits and News:

• Special Poker Game Expanded: The new daytime no-limit game we covered in last week's blog quickly proved both popular and fun, so the crew in the poker room added another day and you can now jump in on this lower-risk no-limit game at 1 p.m. on both Wednesdays and Fridays! Word from the Poker Room is that the Saturday hourly High Hand Contest is also creating some extra interaction as the end of each hour closes in!
• Ladies Night New Start Time: Ladies' Night now starts at 5:30 p.m.   Tonight's Hot Seat winners will receive a valuable Yankee Candle gift basket and the first 150 ladies to check in tonight will receive a Yankee Candle Votive. To have your business featured on one of our Ladies' Nights (we do pay you for the prizes); call Stephanie at 775-783-7711.
• Jackpot Update:
• The Penny Progressive Jackpot was approaching $53,000 when we checked late yesterday afternoon . . . sure starts climbing at a faster rate when it tops $50k. As a reminder, this jackpot is all at the Carson Valley Inn, so no worries about someone hitting it elsewhere!
• The Pro PK'em Progressive is $4,096 for this weekend's NFL games. That's just about where it was when it hit for the first time last year . . . just sayin'.
• This Week's Game-On Fridays special in CV Steak is Grilled Maple Leaf Farms Duck Breast served with tableside-tossed salad, vegetable and your choice of potato - au gratin, baked, or a one-pound, twice-baked potato . . . all for $28.00!

Fire Back at Us! Have questions about the CVI? Use the comments section below, shoot us an email or just pick up the phone and call us @ 775-782-9711. Hit "0" when the automated voice comes on and you'll go right to the hotel operator who can get you to the correct person or department.  We have a lot more coming up at the Carson Valley Inn so check our Blog posting every Wednesday morning!