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Obama Says 'Mele Kalikimaka' From His Holidays In Hawaii
You know what we love most about Christmastime? The fact that most of the country gets to enjoy a long weekend, including the president and his family. On Christmas Even, President Obama, Michelle, and his two daughters hopped Air Force One to Hawaii for their traditional holiday family vacation.
Since they come to Hawaii every year, they don't go about doing the touristy sightseeing anymore, but instead hole up in a rented vacation home in Kailua on Oahu, conveniently neighboring an Air Force base. He plays golf, he plays basketball, and he swims at one of Hawaii's highest rated beaches.
But he is not to be completely envied, since he is the President of the United States after all, and duty calls even when he's on a much-needed island vacation. The news of the attempted terrorist incident onboard Northwest Flight 253 kept Obama chained to his desk for most of Christmas day as he upped the security threat level to orange and issued reviews of security procedure and of the terrorist watch list. We hope, for everyone's sake, that the rest of his vacation will be uneventful.
Related Stories:
· Obamas in Hawaii: First Family Arrives In Oahu for Vacation [HuffPost]
· News interrupts Obama's Hawaii vacation [CBS News]
· Presidential Travel [Jaunted]
[Photo: Huffington Post]
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Obama Gasses Up Air Force One For Visits To Oslo And Copenhagen
It hasn't even been a month yet since President Obama took Asia by storm, hitting up South Korea, China, and Japan, but already the traveler-in-chief is back onboard Air Force One for a quick trip to Scandinavia to pick up his Nobel Peace Prize in Oslo, Norway and then address the climate conference in Copenhagen, Denmark.
Obama will arrive early tomorrow morning in Oslo, where he'll stop by Oslo City Hall for the ceremony, but he'll miss the guided tour of the Nobel Peace Centre in favor of getting over jetlag at the city's Grand Hotel. This is notable because the exhibition currently on display at the museum is about President Obama. He's effectively missing out on his own party. But with good reason...
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No Soju And Karaoke For Obama In South Korea
After some tense days in China, President Obama puddle-jumped up to South Korea, opening the flood gates to jokes about how Obama's got Seoul.
But, like in China and Tokyo, Obama wasn't about to hit the karaoke bars or down soju (rice wine); no, he had business to do and soldiers to visit. After meeting with the South Korean president at the historical "Blue House," Obama headed to Osan Air Base to addressed 1,500 US and Korean men in uniform. There would be no trips to the border with North Korea with Barack, since tensions run so high this year. Too bad though; we enjoyed looking at the little barbed wire souvenirs you can buy at the border base at Panmunjom.
Although Obama's first trip to Asia as president was focused on China, he had to give some attention to South Korea. It's a good thing he didn't bring the family though, since we doubt Malia and Sasha would have liked eating living, wriggling octopus tentacles.
Related Stories:
· Commander-in-Chief Obama shares stories with U.S. troops in Korea [LA Times]
· Obama's S. Korea visit free of major protests [Washington Times]
· Obama Around The World [Jaunted]
[Photo: AP/WashingtonTimes]
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Visit To China Brings Out The Business Traveler In Obama
Whereas Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie might be our Super World Travelers, there's no doubt that President Obama is our Super Business Traveler. After wrapping up a summer of whirlwind around-the-world meetings and appearances with his family in tow, autumn is marked by his huge solo visit this week to China.
Over the weekend, Obama landed in Shanghai after a quick visit to Japan and Singapore. Already in China, he has hosted a town hall-style meeting with Chinese students to discuss freedom of information—with a small nod to Twitter, saying: "Well, first of all, let me say that I have never used Twitter...my thumbs are too clumsy to type in things on the phone." This came in response to China's past ban on Twitter, although access to the website was re-opened at university campuses for this special event.
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The 'O Team' Heads To Copenhagen To Push 'Chicago 2016'
Tomorrow is the big day! On October 2, the Olympic Committee will announce the host city for the 2016 Olympics, and it's a hot race right down to the last minute for finalist cities Chicago, Tokyo, Rio de Janeiro, and Madrid. These final 24 hours have been particularly important to the decision-making process, as each city flew their star-power spokespeople to Copenhagen, Denmark to make final pleas before the Committee.
While soccer star Pelé did what he could for Rio's case, Chicago's representation was a bit more impressive with both Oprah and Michelle Obama stepping up to the podium to pitch The Windy City. Oprah might rule it these days, you see, but Michelle was born there and remains a Second City gal, even if her residence is now the White House.
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Michelle Obama Begins Locavore Crusade at NYC's Gramercy Tavern
President Obama might be making his first presidential visit to Pittsburgh today for the G20 Summits, but before heading off for some serious work-time, Mr. and Mrs. Obama hit up New York again for a couple days, creating mass traffic confusion, but some actual excitement when Michelle lunched at the famed Gramercy Tavern restaurant.
In all fairness, Michelle had to eat alone since Barack was not in town for tourist activities like usual, but instead addressing the United Nations. Gramercy Tavern is an excellent choice for the First Lady, even if she may have gone because the chef behind the restaurant also catered the UN activities. It is upscale, rather exclusive and hard to get reservations for, and is known for being a cheerleader of American cuisine.
She didn't make reservations...
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Everyone And Obama Kicking Back On Martha's Vineyard This Week
We have truly entered the family vacation portion of summer, what with last week's National Parks free day and the anxiety of squeezing in trips before Labor Day. Although President Obama, Michelle, Malia and Sasha have spent their summer traveling around the world and taking in various tourist sites, they have also been working all the while. Thus, it's even time for the first family to call it quits for a bit and head to Martha's Vineyard in Massachusetts for some deserved rest and relaxation.
They'll even be renting a summer vacation home for the week-long break, but this isn't some cottage with a leaky canoe; it's the 28-acre, $35,000-a-week Blue Heron Farm on the island's southern edge. With the arrival of the Obamas, Martha's Vineyard has become the late summer celebrity vacation hotspot, as it's reported that the likes of Jay-Z, Beyonce, Oprah, Spike Lee, Pele (the Brazilion soccer star) and even the Clintons are also in town.
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The Obamas Show Us How A National Parks Vacation Is Done
With vacation destinations like Miami Beach or Las Vegas, one wonder if American families are still game to take in natural sights at the once-popular National Parks. Well, there's at least one family that kicked off their summer vacation with little good old road tripping out west, and that's the Obamas. Before they head to Martha's Vineyard for some well-deserved down time, the first family spent this last weekend admiring the Grand Canyon and Yellowstone National Park.
Alright, so it wasn't exactly a road trip in the traditional sense, since the family took the Marine One helicopter from the White House to Air Force One to reach the west, but they did hop from one park to another in one weekend, and Obama even brought along his half-sister and her family.
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Buy Obama Some Peanuts And Crackerjacks In St. Louis
Whether or not you're planning one of those tour-the-USA's-major-league-ballparks vacations, perhaps you'll want to add St. Louis' Busch Stadium onto your Midwest road-trip now that President Obama has taken the mound.
That's right, last night during the All-Star game, Barack dressed down in jeans and a Chicago White Sox jackets—yay for repping his home team—and threw the ceremonial first pitch to Albert Pujols of the Cardinals. Although he had warmed up on the White House lawn this weekend and was accompanied to St. Louis on Air Force One with Willie Mays, Obama said of his pitch: "Now, there was no clock on it, I don't know how fast it went - but if it exceeded 30 miles per hour, I'd be surprised, but it did clear the plate."
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The Obamas Make A Solemn Stop At A Ghana Slave Castle
After a happy few days in Italy, making gelato and visiting with antiquity, the Obamas headed south to Ghana for President Obama's first official visit to Africa. It was a solemn trip, and Obama chose Ghana over Kenya—where he has family ties—because of Ghana's dedication to democracy.
The whole family made the trip along with Barack, and Michelle and the girls even accompanied him on a tour of Cape Coast Castle, which, in the 1600s, "served as Britain's West Africa headquarters for the trans-Atlantic slave trade, which saw European powers and African chiefs export millions in shackles to Europe and the Americas." It's not exactly a tourist attraction either, unless you're set on re-tracing your own family history through the slave trade.
Obama's visit not only to Ghana but to the slave trading headquarters is poignant; it illustrates, in one stop, how far the world has come in shedding racism and taking up equality.
Related Stories:
· Obama's visit to fort a 'full-circle experience' [MSNBC]
· Dear President Obama [Globe and Mail]
· The Sort-of Return of the Prodigal Son: President Obama Arrives in Accra, Ghana [Obama Foodorama]
· When In Rome, It's Gelato And G8 For The Obamas [Jaunted]
· Presidential Travel Coverage [Jaunted]
[Photo: AP via HuffPost]
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When In Rome, It's Gelato And G8 For The Obamas
When it was announced that President Obama would make a visit to Rome and The Vatican this week, we couldn't hardly wait to see goodies the Eternal City had in store for them, and Rome didn't disappoint. As the whole family moved on from their museum-hopping in Moscow earlier this week, some casual sightseeing and of course, a few scoops of famous gelato, were in order.
As Barack met with G8 leaders, Michelle quickly took in the Colosseum with her daughters and the Capitoline Museum, which houses ancient Roman art and archeology, with the other G8 wives. Then the adults promptly headed deeper into the Abruzzo region to the town of L'Aquila, which suffered that fatal earthquake back in April.
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More Museums For the Obamas As They Take Moscow
As President Obama continues to tour the world, we love that he's including his family and allowing them to be cultural ambassadors while he's tied up in meetings, like today's talks with Russia's President Dmitry Medvedev over arms control.
While Obama conducts business in the Kremlin, Michelle and the girls are literally down the hall with first lady Svetlana Medvedev, who took them on a tour of famous tourist sites within the palace, such as the Cathedral of the Assumption and the Amory Museum and its 190-carat Orlov diamond. The girls even took tea in the Winter Garden; we are so jealous.
According to the Russian paper Pravda and USA Today, the Obamas might however be sleeping outside of the Kremlin walls at the Ritz-Carlton, since the hotel has suspiciously blocked off reservations for July 5 thru 8. There's yet another clue as to the Obamas' hotel sleeping arrangements: "In its lobby, the Ritz-Carlton installed an over-sized, chocolate statue of an American Eagle and a Russian Bear in honor of the visit." Our jealousy sees no end.
Related Stories:
· US first lady Michelle Obama tours Moscow's Kremlin as summit talks kick off [LA Times]
· President Obama's likely hotel choice while in Moscow: The Ritz-Carlton [USA Today]
· Presidential Travel Coverage [Jaunted]
[Photo: Stringer / AFP / Getty ]
