Details below on the education, the vacation and location.

The Education

12 hours of approved CE will be available. Our radiology speaker, Dr. Andrew Gendler (DVM, Diplomate ACVR), will present 5 hours of talks. Dr. Gendler is a fantastic teacher and a practicing specialist in Boise, Idaho. His engaging and practical talks are designed to significantly improve your imaging interpretation and confidence. Our Emergency and Critical Care specialist, Dr. Megan Seekins DVM, DACVECC, is also a practicing clinician. She is an outstanding teacher and her 5 talks will offer a wealth of expertise and experience that will help you whether you work in an ER setting, or just see (planned or unplanned) sick or unstable patients. In order to maximize your vacation time outside of lecture, Dr. William Rausch DVM, DACVIM-Cardiology will also give an additional 2h of live approved cardiology CE in a live, interactive online format in the week before and after the meeting.

The Location

All of the talks will take place at our host hotel - The Leta Santa Barbara-Goleta by Hilton - and this location is half the fun.  This laid-back resort has full-size heated pool with wonderful lounge chairs (see photos) and hosts a free happy hour for guests each evening from 5-6pm with excellent and complimentary wine and beer.  There is a full indoor/outdoor restaurant and pub, outdoor fires with seating for your relaxation pleasure, and pet friendly rooms.  They are located just a 2-mile drive or taxi from the Santa Barbara airport (SBA).  We are super-excited to be having our meeting here again. There are a number of lodging options in the area but The Leta is holding a limited number of rooms for our attendees at a discounted rate.  After you register, we will send you an email with a private link that will allow you to book at the special rate. 

Your Vacation

The Santa Barbara and Solvang areas are of course famous for producing fabulous wine. If you ever enjoyed the movie Sideways, it was about and filmed in the vineyards of Santa Barbara County and many wineries with tasting rooms are within a reasonable drive of our conference. If you are interested in visiting some wineries as a group, we have partnered with Sustainable Vine Wine Tours who will have a chauffeured van to bring a limited number of our attendees to tastings at local vineyards Saturday afternoon after the morning CE. This is designed also to be an educaitonal endeavor and you will meet and learn viticulture from the people who are growing and processing the wine that you taste.  This is an optional add-on with limited space.  This will be an all-afternoon outing and will include a picnic lunch.. We did this at our last Santa Barbara meeting and it was a wonderful time.

If you are interested in hiking, cycling, surfing, paddleboarding, kayaking you are in for a treat.  With the bounty of the Pacific Ocean, the Santa Ynez mountians and a temperate climate, this is an outdoors-oriented city.

Etc

The Santa Barbara airport (SBA) is served by a number of major airlines including American, Alaskan, Delta, United, US Air and Frontier. If you fly into Santa Barbara and prefer not to rent a car and are staying at the conference hotel, you can easily take a taxi or Lyft the 2 miles to the hotel.  The optional group wine outing will pick us up directly from the Leta Hotel. One could also fly in to Los Angeles and drive 2-3 hours to Santa Barbara.

We believe that the more relaxed mind is better able to learn and retain new information. With this in mind the schedule will allow ample opportunity for you to get out and enjoy the natural beauty of the area. Talks will begin at 4pm on Friday, and continue Saturday and Sunday mornings finishing before noon on Sunday. Registration includes 12 hours of approved CE and the best time you will ever have at work.

Life is short - make the most of your CE experience.