San Francisco, California

Looking at my 2015 calendar, there are not as many business trips this year! You may remember that I spent a good third of 2014 traveling around the world. My new job required a lot of attendance at conferences and meetings with global agencies last year.

This year will be a lot more travel within the United States, to places that I am very familiar with. First up this year? San Francisco!

My last visit to San Francisco was as a graduate student attending an American Chemical Society annual meeting. I stayed in a pseudo-hostal and subsisted on fast food, convenience store snacks and whatever I could scrounge from the exhibitor booths.

This trip was much different, as I was there attending the JP Morgan Healthcare summit for work. First, my hotel room had its own bathroom and the view you see below...

The conference not only fed us very well (Odwalla juices for breakfast anyone?), but my colleague and I were able to go out for dinner, at real restaurants! I was able to enjoy the seafood of San Francisco, the great variety of options in Chinatown and all the sourdough bread I could handle. I guess I've come a long way in the eight years since my last visit!

Sadly, we were only in San Francisco for the days of the conference. We didn't have too much extra time to wander the city. In our final afternoon in California, my colleague and I walked to the coast, bought some Ghirardelli chocolates and took a boat ride to Alcatraz. We then hopped in a cab and headed back to SFO, being sure to get some Boudin sandwiches for the flight home.

I'd love to spend more time in this unique city. In the two times that I've visited, I have barely scratched the surface. Perhaps I can convince the boyfriend to take a California road trip with me this spring. Start in LA, drive north to SF, eat a lot of food along the way! 

Have any of you done a California coast road trip? I'd love to hear about your experiences!

Wilde in the World - Maui

Here we are with my summer update number one! All the way back in late May, the boyfriend and I took some time off and headed to Maui. I've always wanted to visit Hawaii. Every time I suggested it as a destination, we always wound up choosing a more unusual vacation (Thailand, Morocco, etc.). Why did I finally get my wish of a trip to Hawaii? We had the time off and only five days to plan the vacation (we were supposed to be going to Australia, but that fell through in the last minute).

I can't say it was a restful vacation. We were constantly hiking, swimming, touring and so on, but it was an amazing trip!  Here are some highlights from our ten days in paradise.

We stayed at the Hyatt Regency in Kaanapali and were greeted with leis upon our arrival. I swiftly annexed the boyfriends shell necklace because it went so well with my floral lei. The hotel was quiet, had a great pool and...

Penguins! The hotel could have been a dump and these adorable penguins could have totally made up for it. Luckily, the hotel was lovely and had penguins.

I tried very very hard to avoid getting a sunburn. Hats are the secret to keeping your skin looking young! That, and lots of SPF. Reapply, reapply!

You can't go to Hawaii and not get some Shave Ice. This was just one of several tubs of ice we got while on Maui. That one there? I think it's pineapple, guava and banana. A chilly, tropical treat.

Most evenings we were too tired to bother with a fancy dinner. We ate at a lot of local greasy spoons and had Korean BBQ. One night though, we decided to put on nice(ish) clothes and go to dinner. Let me tell you this, the noodles at Star Noodle in Lahaina are totally worth the wait.

Nothing says vacation like waking up at 2:00am to drive up a volcano to watch the sunrise....

...then hiking 6 miles into said volcano. We really know how to relax.

We did a lot of hiking. The lure of the secret waterfalls kept us trekking.

I ate some pancakes to make up for all the hiking.

I really wish I was back in this moment...

Wilde in the World - San Diego, California

Between all of my jet setting around the world, I've been heading to some more local destinations. I had to visit Buffalo, New York for a day last month, just before I had to head across the country to California!

Every year, I head to the AACR annual conference. AACR is the American Association of Cancer Researchers and this conference attracts over 15,000 scientists, oncologists, clinicians, regulatory specialists and a wide variety of hospital, university and pharmaceutical employees. When the AACR is in town, the conversations that you hear on the street will tend toward PFS, BTD and PKPD.

With the closing of my company last year, the employees of OSI pharmaceuticals were spread to the wind. As it so happens, several of them stayed in the oncology research area and attended this years conference. So in addition to all the great science and fantastic weather that I was able to enjoy, I also got to meet up with so many of my former colleagues (and meet their new colleagues).

If you are ever thinking about attending a conference in San Diego, I would highly recommend it. The conference center boasts an enormous outdoor seating area, for those moments between sessions. It is also three or four blocks long, so you will get a lot of exercise in while walking from room to room. The food was also surprisingly good with a great variety of healthy options. Book that conference, you won't regret it!

When it comes to the city itself, I can't complain about the food. I had several delicious meals that were packed with fresh seafood and followed up with succulent desserts. The meal that sticks in my mind the most is an evening spent with a friend and a few of his friends.

The restaurant was Osetra The Fishhouse and the menu was Italian seafood. If you love wine, they have the most amazing selection. In order to access all of the wines, they have to strap a bar tender in a harness and climb up to the ceiling. I started with their combination appetizer plate of the day and had a buttery Chilean sea bass as my main course. I was outed as a bit of a foodie during dinner and was forced to order dessert for the table. I settled on an almond and pear tarte and shared a few pieces with my companions. It was all so amazing, I didn't have to eat until lunch the next day.

Actually, I had to hit the streets with my new friends and run off some of those buttery calories. Luckily the weather in San Diego made the morning run much less of a chore. The conversation actually made it a delight! I think I might need to make another trip to the west coast for a vacation. The year-round warm weather is quite tempting, especially when spring is so manic-depressing in New Jersey!