Teela Hammond, Manager at Barnard Vogler & Co., was honored by the Nevada Society of Certified Public Accounts for her efforts in starting and maintaining The Young CPA group in northern Nevada, which she also chairs. Teela was also elected to the NVCPA Board.

For the sixth year in a row, the employees of Barnard Vogler & Co., CPAs adopted a family for Christmas. Working with the Children’s Cabinet, the employees of the company have worked with a local community service agency to ensure that a less fortunate family in our community will have a happier holiday.

Leslie Daane, Managing Director at Barnard Vogler & Co, participated with her family at the 12th annual Moms on the Run, held on Mothers Day, 2012.

Moms on the Run is a non-profit organization that was formed in 2000 to raise money to assist local women with cancer. Funds raised will be donated to specific needs of women’s cancers in Northern Nevada.

The NVCPA honored Mike Davis with the Distinguished Service Award at their Annual Business Meeting. Davis served on the NVCPA board for 10 years, holding a variety of offices including Treasurer and President (2009-2010) as well as the Society’s elected member of the governing Council of the AICPA for the past three years.

Mike Davis (right) receives Distinguished Service Award from NVCPA Immediate Past President Fred Hipwell

I recently had a chance to visit the Nevada Museum of Art’s Lake Tahoe exhibit and I have to say, I was blown away by the number of historical art pieces the museum had on display depicting Lake Tahoe during a time that few people today can remember. The museum suggests guests start off on the third floor in order to begin with the earliest paintings working your way towards the present time. I highly suggest taking the museum up on this suggestion as it allows you to view the changes that have taken place in the Lake Tahoe Basin since the late 1800’s. While the art on display does not go back much further than the 1800’s, most changes in that area did not really occur until the twentieth century and thus it does not take away from the historical representation of the changes that have occurred in the Lake Tahoe Basin.

Starting on the third floor guests are introduced to some of the early paintings depicting the beauty of Lake Tahoe. Artists on this floor include Thomas Hill, John C. Fremont, Mark Twain, John Muir and many more. Not only does the gallery give you a visual representation through the paintings of these artists, but the museum has explanations of what was going on in the painting, as well as, during that particular time period. These explanations present a logical flow to the exhibit which, if you take the suggested route, allows the visitor to fully understand the changes that took place around our beloved lake. Another great representation on the third floor is that of the Washoe Indians basketry which showed amazing woven baskets from the early Nevada years. The detail in some of the baskets is remarkable and they have held up to the test of time as they still look as though they are in excellent condition.

The second floor introduces guests to the time that the museum has dubbed as the rise of the resort. This level depicts the vast changes that Lake Tahoe underwent during the twentieth century, and even includes a thirty minute documentary explaining what went on during this period. Artists on this level include Frank Lloyd Wright, Maynard Dixon, Ansel Adams, Edward Weston, as well as others. It still amazes me that structures built during this period can still be visited today and that these structures have remained despite the harsh winters that often occur in the Sierra Nevada Mountains. The first floor of the museum has a few of the items depicted in the exhibit for sale in the gift shop where if you really would like to take the exhibit home with you, you can purchase a few of the Washoe Indian baskets to bring the past home with you. This exhibit has been executed very well and I will definitely be returning one more time, at least, before the exhibit changes in mid January.

As summer winds down, Disneyland begins to get ready to start the transformation for Halloween, Christmas and New Years. If you have never had the chance to see what the park looks like during these special times of the year, I have to say that the transformation is quite spectacular. Growing up in Orange County, CA, I had many opportunities to visit Disneyland during these periods; often owning a season pass to help save me the most money while visiting the park. Season passes save you 15% on dining, 20% on merchandise, 20% on guided tours, 20% off special events, and even saves you money when staying in the Disneyland hotel. The season pass is your best bet if you plan to visit the park more than 4 or 5 times, but this is not possible for all of us. Many of us, as I do now; live too far away from Disneyland to plan multiple trips to the park during the course of just one year. So I am going to give you some other tips on how to save some money while visiting Disneyland that do not involve purchasing an expensive ($779) season pass.

1. When purchasing your tickets to attend Disneyland Park, do not purchase your tickets when you get to the ticket windows at the park. The lines are incredibly long, and the prices are more at the park than purchasing from authorized sellers of Disneyland tickets. Authorized sellers of tickets include; AAA, Safeway, Costco, as well as many online retailers. Just be sure that you trust the website that you use to purchase your tickets if you do in fact choose to use an online retailer. Do not use eBay, Craigslist or a private party.
2. With the addition of California Adventure, the park has only gotten more crowded and thus visiting all your favorite rides in one day may not be possible anymore. One way to combat this problem is that you can hold a fast pass (a pass that allows you to avoid the long lines) for one ride in both Disneyland Park and California Adventure at the same time. Thus, if you carefully plan your rides, you are more likely to get on more of your favorites using the two fast pass systems.
3. Dining in the park can be extremely expensive, often costing upwards of $20 per person at many of the resort restaurants. If you still like to eat out, but do not have to eat inside the park, there are some slightly cheaper options in Downtown Disney, but there is not much of a reprieve there. Your best option for saving money on food is to bring your own food, something that most people think is not allowed, but food is allowed to be brought into the park. Bringing your own food is likely save you the most money, especially if you are like me and eat at least 3 meals a day if not more. It’s great if you plan a multiple day trip to Disneyland.
4. Merchandise also runs at a very large premium within the Disneyland parks, so if you would like merchandise cheaper; your best bet is to visit Disney stores. These stores generally carry most of what you can find in the park, and you can get these items ahead of time to bring with you into the park if you so choose. My last piece of advice is to download the Mouse wait app in either Apple’s app store or in the android marketplace. This app will tell you ride wait times as well as many different secrets that I have not included here, including the search for the hidden Mickey’s.

If you are looking for cheap ways to enjoy the beautiful terrain in and around the Lake Tahoe Basin, hiking will be your best bet. There are relatively few locations on the Nevada side of the lake that require paid parking, whereas if you generally hike anywhere in California around Lake Tahoe, you are likely to be assessed a fee ranging from $5 – $20 to park your vehicle.
Personally I choose to purchase the National Parks and Federal Recreational Lands Pass which will run you $80, but comes with great benefits. This $80 pass gains you free entry to Yosemite which can run you $20 with a proposed price increase to $30 in near the future. Not only does this pass allow you to park at any Federal recreation site, but this pass will also save you money on overnight camping fees and amenity fees at all Federal sites. As I have said in my previous blogs, when analyzing whether an annual pass is worth it or not, plan out your hikes and camping trips before purchasing your pass and purchase the pass as close to the date of your first hike as possible. At $80, only hiking a place that costs $5 to park would take you 16 trips to that place before your pass has paid for itself, so make sure to research where you will be hiking or camping. Personally I purchase the pass because I do not want to deal with finding the pay station and depositing my money, plus I hike most weekends all summer and early fall.

Some of my favorite hikes to undertake in the Tahoe area are Angora Lake, Marlette Lake via the flume trail, and anywhere on the Pacific Crest Trail. All of my favorite hikes involve ending up close to a body of water, as there is no better way to rest on a hike than taking a dip in the clean lakes around Tahoe. The Marlette Lake hike via the flume trail is a great hike for looking out over Lake Tahoe from 7500’ up on the east side of the lake. The hike begins in Incline Village and is 14 miles round trip, but well worth every step taken. Being 7500’ up on the east side of the Lake you get a great overhead view of Sand Harbor and can even see the entrance to Emerald Bay on clear days. Angora Lake is a beautiful lake that does not tend to get the crowds that you find around Lake Tahoe. The hike is a mild 3 miles round trip and is on a very well paved path as there are also lake cabins that may be rented by the lake and thus the hiking trail doubles as a road. The Pacific Crest Trail runs down the west side of the lake and takes you by Squaw Valley ski area, directly through the Desolation Wilderness, and down through the Carson Pass. This hike can be easy or difficult depending on the section of the trail you decide to hike, but no matter what section you hike, you are going to see all sorts of beautiful landscapes.

Any one of these hikes as well as many others that can be found in the Lake Tahoe area are some of the best hikes I have been on in the continental United States. Lake Tahoe does not contain all the poisonous plants and animals that most other regions have to deal with and so while hiking you can spend your time looking at the landscape as opposed to worrying about running into poison oak. My biggest piece of advice before hiking is to make sure you do some research on the area before starting out on your hike; as you want to be sure to know the area you will be hiking very well. Websites such as everytrail.com and summitpost.org provide great details on many different hiking trails all throughout the United States. Not only do these sites describe the hikes in great detail, but they all give great suggestions on what to bring and what to watch out for while hiking. Happy exploring!!!

Earlier this year I wrote a blog analyzing how one should go about purchasing a winter season pass at one of the many Lake Tahoe ski resorts, but I overlooked what that winter pass gets you during the summer months at the various ski resorts. In my previous post I declared that I buy my season pass at Sierra-at-Tahoe for $279 which is the best price in Tahoe, however that $279 gets you nothing during the summer months and so I reconsidered my decision for the 2015-2016 winter season. The same can be said about the epic pass and the ability to use the summer biking activities at Northstar ski resort, as you cannot use your winter pass to ride the gondola or take laps on your mountain bike. Northstar offers a summer bike pass that will run $349 if you have a winter pass which only pays for itself if you are going to ride 7 or more days at Northstar, and if you do not have a winter pass you will need to ride 8 or more days for the pass to pay for itself. The bike park is not all Northstar has to offer; Northstar also offers golf, mini golf, a bungee trampoline, a rock wall, fly fishing on a stocked reservoir, and also features live music during the summer. These other activities have their own pricing and do not require you to buy a lift ticket to enjoy.

The epic pass does not include just Northstar, but Heavenly ski resort and Kirkwood ski resort as well. At both of these resorts your winter epic pass gets you free access to the lifts during the summer with tons of hiking trails to be explored. Heavenly has one activity that no other resort has in Lake Tahoe and that is zip lining. Heavenly currently boasts two zip lines, one of which is 3,300 feet long and over looks gorgeous Lake Tahoe on your way down. Kirkwood also offers mountain biking during the summer in addition to hiking and is included in the price of the Northstar bike pass, or you may purchase a Kirkwood only biking pass for significantly cheaper. Other activities that these two resorts host are disc golf, summer tubing, a ropes course, and outdoor climbing all accessible with your winter season pass. This year I personally purchased the epic pass for the winter as I will be visiting the largest ski resort in the United States, Park City / Canyons, and I am stoked on the addition of Jackson Hole Wyoming to the Vail Resorts family.

Squaw Valley has some of the best hiking trails that I have been on in the North Lake Tahoe area. The tram costs $39 for adults to ride up and is free if you have a valid winter season pass; however if you hike from the base to the top of the tram you are allowed to ride the tram down to the bottom for free. Along the hiking trails there are many waterfalls and swimming pools early in the summer, and also a disc golf course that runs all summer long beginning June 20th of this year. Disc golf is free however you will need to ride the tram up to the course or take the free hiking trails up to the course. Squaw also offers tennis, golf, a ropes course, roller skating, a pool and spa, and plays host to many summer festivals such as Wanderlust. Purchasing a winter pass does get you free tram rides at Squaw Valley during the summer and so this pass is useful all year long, however this pass does cost the most out of all the passes in the Lake Tahoe area. Now get your pass and get out there and explore Lake Tahoe.

In case you have not heard, Jon Stewart will be stepping down as the host of The Daily Show with Jon Stewart. Currently his contract is set to run out sometime in September, but he has said that he is unsure of when he will actually leave the show. Jon’s satirical reporting is what has gotten me, as well as many other younger people, to watch the news and know what is going on in the world. The show has been on since 1999, 15 years, all of which have occurred since I was old enough to care about the news. Now with him leaving, I am unsure of who could possibly replace him and keep the show as light and funny as it has been for the last 15 years. Let’s look at the possible candidates.

As of right now, there are no for sure leads as to who may replace Mr. Stewart, however there are favorites for the position. Currently three of the shows current or previous analysts are expected to take the place of Mr. Stewart; however,of the three candidates, Jessica Williams, John Oliver, and Jason Jones, I am not particularly drawn towards any of them. I like the work that they do on the show, but I do not feel that they have the personality that Mr. Stewart has shown over the years on the show. Some of the other candidates that have been mentioned are: Chris Rock, John Hodgman, Aasif Mandvi, Ricky Gervais, and Amy Poehler. These are all great candidates except for the fact that they seem to have much more going on in their lives that won’t allow them the time to undertake The Daily Show. As host, Jon Stewart was mostly involved in just the TV show taking a brief period of time off to produce a movie. Thus, if any of these people would like to take his position, it would likely only be if they are choosing this as their career.

The candidate that I am the most stoked on is Amy Schumer. She is by far my favorite choice for the position, as she is a young and aspiring comedian just as Jon Stewart was when he began. Mr. Stewart did not become the figure that he is until he landed the Daily Show, however Ms. Schumer already has a lot going for her. She currently hosts her own show on Comedy Central and will host the MTV Awards show later in 2015. If Comedy Central is looking for someone that can bring in the young crowd, just as Mr. Stewart has done, they need to go with a younger, upcoming comedian and thus I believe that Amy Schumer is the best choice for the job.

Which resort will I buy my season pass to next year?

This is a question that I ask myself every winter when the ski and snowboard season is in full swing here in Lake Tahoe. I have learned over the last 24 years of skiing and snowboarding that I will visit one single resort enough to make buying a season pass worth the price. I have also learned that buying a season pass in April of the proceeding season saves me a ton of money. It may not be that easy for some of you to choose which season pass is right for you, or if buying a season pass is even worth it, so I am here to help you make up your mind.

The first step is to identify how many days you plan on skiing/riding during the upcoming season. This may change from year to year depending on vacations or other happenings that get in the way of your shredding, so be reasonable with your estimate. It is not simply enough to know how many days you will be skiing/riding, but you also need to know how many days at which resorts you will be riding. A few of the resorts in the Lake Tahoe area have teamed up with each other, as well as with resorts in other states, to offer season passes that include more resorts than ever before. Therefore, if you are making a ski or snowboard trip somewhere other than Lake Tahoe, you may want to look and see if tickets to the resort you will be visiting are included with the price of your Lake Tahoe season pass. Take myself for example, I buy the Sierra at Tahoe pass which also includes Squaw Valley and Alpine Meadows in the Lake Tahoe area, as well as resorts in 10 other states! There are some restrictions on use at the non Sierra at Tahoe resorts – you only get 4 total days at Squaw and Alpine combined, but the fact that the pass offers access to 17 different resorts is what grabs my interest because I like to travel and the price ($279) just cannot be beat.

Once you know how many days you will be riding at which resorts, look up that resorts single day lift ticket price and multiply it by the number of days that you will ride that particular resort. This will give you the total amount you would spend if you bought single lift tickets each day at that resort which, if higher than the amount for a season pass, makes the pass worth buying. One thing to note is that with all the different resorts offered on a single season pass, you will need to add up the total price for each resort that falls under that particular pass. This means if you are going to be riding Kirkwood, Heavenly, and Northstar, you will want to add up the totals of all these resorts (as well as some resorts in Utah and Colorado) because they are all included under one season pass. Remember, there are tons of different pass options offered through our Lake Tahoe resort websites, so check them all out to make sure that you do not miss the pass that is right for you. Happy Shredding!!!