{"id":6882,"date":"2025-11-10T13:47:00","date_gmt":"2025-11-10T20:47:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.xephalon.net\/updates\/?p=6882"},"modified":"2025-12-13T02:07:06","modified_gmt":"2025-12-13T09:07:06","slug":"lab-retreat-at-yosemite","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.xephalon.net\/updates\/2025\/11\/10\/lab-retreat-at-yosemite\/","title":{"rendered":"Lab Retreat at Yosemite"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.xephalon.net\/updates\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/2025.11.10.a.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignleft size-thumbnail wp-image-6894\" src=\"https:\/\/www.xephalon.net\/updates\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/2025.11.10.a-100x100.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"100\" height=\"100\" \/><\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.xephalon.net\/updates\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/2025.11.10.b.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignleft size-thumbnail wp-image-6895\" src=\"https:\/\/www.xephalon.net\/updates\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/2025.11.10.b-100x100.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"100\" height=\"100\" \/><\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.xephalon.net\/updates\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/2025.11.10.c.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignleft size-thumbnail wp-image-6896\" src=\"https:\/\/www.xephalon.net\/updates\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/2025.11.10.c-100x100.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"100\" height=\"100\" \/><\/a>I felt very engaged at a scientific engagement meeting for <a href=\"https:\/\/www.merck.com\/\">Merck<\/a> in <a href=\"https:\/\/www.marriott.com\/en-us\/hotels\/sfowi-the-westin-san-francisco-airport\/overview\/\">SF<\/a> last week, capped by <a href=\"https:\/\/www.kincaids.com\/location\/kincaids-burlingame-ca\/\">dinner<\/a> with some of the leading minds in AMD research. The drive back took longer than expected, so I was grateful for my wife for bringing <a href=\"https:\/\/tayho.com\/banh-cuon-tay-ho-sacramento\">lunch<\/a> to clinic so I could quickly catch up. After the busy week, a lab retreat to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nps.gov\/yose\/index.htm\">Yosemite<\/a> offered the perfect reset. The recent government shutdown meant free park entry, but our initial drive was fraught with range anxiety. We were relieved to find a free <a href=\"https:\/\/rivian.com\/spaces\/yosemite\">Rivian<\/a> charging station, and finally got to enjoy the serene hike with my lab mates past <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nps.gov\/yose\/planyourvisit\/lowerfalltrail.htm\">Lower Yosemite Falls<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nps.gov\/yose\/planyourvisit\/cooksmeadowtrail.htm\">Cook&#8217;s Meadow Loop<\/a>. After a picnic with <a href=\"https:\/\/duchuongsandwiches.com\/\">banh mi<\/a> and ravens, we squeezed in another short hike before settling into to our <a href=\"https:\/\/www.airbnb.com\/rooms\/1450140642218069439\">Airbnb<\/a> for some billiards, air hockey, and ping pong. Dinner was a hearty spread of grilled corn, crab cakes, burgers, and salmon, which fueled some intense rounds of <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Sequence_(game)\">Sequence<\/a>. We warmed up afterwards with s&#8217;mores by the firepit that somehow evolved into an extended lab meeting. We awoke Sunday to pancakes, french toast, and omelettes while the kids laughed over <a href=\"https:\/\/www.warnerbros.com\/brands\/looney-tunes\">Looney Tunes<\/a>. Though kayaking at <a href=\"https:\/\/www.pinemountainlake.com\/\">Pine Mountain Lake<\/a> was closed, I managed to secure <a href=\"https:\/\/www.pinemountainlake.com\/tennis-and-pickleball-courts\/\">guest passes<\/a> for a morning of pickleball, badminton, and tennis that led to my racquet&#8217;s eventual demise. By the time we arrived at <a href=\"https:\/\/prieststation.com\/\">Priest Station Cafe<\/a>, we were shifting tables to escape the blazing sun before we could enjoy our scenic meal. Feeling full and more rejuvenated, we decided to skip <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nps.gov\/yose\/planyourvisit\/mg.htm\">Mariposa Grove<\/a> and head home early to unwind before returning to the grind.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>I felt very engaged at a scientific engagement meeting for Merck in SF last week, capped by dinner with some of the leading minds in AMD research. The drive back took longer than expected, so I was grateful for my &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/www.xephalon.net\/updates\/2025\/11\/10\/lab-retreat-at-yosemite\/\">Continue reading <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6882","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.xephalon.net\/updates\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6882","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.xephalon.net\/updates\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.xephalon.net\/updates\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.xephalon.net\/updates\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.xephalon.net\/updates\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6882"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/www.xephalon.net\/updates\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6882\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6898,"href":"https:\/\/www.xephalon.net\/updates\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6882\/revisions\/6898"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.xephalon.net\/updates\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6882"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.xephalon.net\/updates\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6882"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.xephalon.net\/updates\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6882"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}