So it was of little wonder then that he brought his wife, Michelle, and daughters Malia and Sasha, as well as other relatives, including half-sister Maya Soetoro-Ng and her young family, on a trip that was part family vacation, part policy promotion.
http://www.mercurynews.com/politics/ci_13135191
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http://www.azcentral.com/business/articles/2009/08/15/20090815biz-obama0815.html
President Barack Obama will have a different view of Camelback Mountain on his second overnight trip to Phoenix this year.
The president and his family, arriving tonight for a two-night stay, are expected to stay at the Phoenician on Camelback Road at the base of the iconic mountain. In February, Obama stayed at the new InterContinental Montelucia Resort & Spa at Lincoln Drive and Tatum Boulevard, on the other side of the mountain.
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The Phoenician is one of a handful of resorts in metropolitan Phoenix to earn five-diamond status, the highest accolade from AAA. Canyon Suites, its even-more-exclusive hotel-within-a-hotel, also has five diamonds.
It’s unclear whether the Obamas will be staying in the main resort, Canyon Suites or the Phoenician Residences, an enclave of homes on the resort’s golf course.
Since it’s summer, regular room rates this weekend are low, starting at $177 a night, and government rates are likely lower. In good times, the resort routinely commands $500-$600 a night and up.
On Thursday, the hotel’s Web site had the presidential suite available this weekend at $1,600 a night. It was not available on the Web site on Friday. However, industry executives say the president doesn’t always stay in the presidential suite.
The 60-room Canyon Suites, also home to a presidential suite with a baby grand piano and full kitchen, shows no availability this weekend. A reservations agent said it is closed for the month of August for upkeep.
The first family won’t have much time to lounge by the Phoenician’s mother-of-pearl pool, Centre for Well-Being spa or check out its new restaurants, including J&G Steakhouse by celebrity chef Jean-Georges Vongerichten. This is not an official vacation like the one planned in Martha’s Vineyard later this month, complete with a reported $25,000 vacation rental on a privately owned farm.
They arrive in Phoenix around dinner time today after a visit to Yellowstone National Park and a health-care town hall in Colorado.
If they arrive by dusk, the president’s daughters could head to the Oasis Pool for an Arizona summer tradition: dive-in movies. “Monsters vs. Aliens” is showing today, according to a resort concierge.
The family gets up early Sunday and heads to the Grand Canyon like many tourists, although the trip will be on Air Force One rather than a rental car or a tour bus. They return Sunday evening and will be in Phoenix on Monday morning. They head back to Washington on Monday after Obama’s speech at the Veterans of Foreign Wars convention in downtown Phoenix.
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How appropriate for The Annointed One to stay at The House of Cards Built by Charlie Keating. I worked for a subcontractor on that project in 1987-88, nearly put them under because of delayed payment by the Resolution Trust Corporation settling Charlie’s savings & loan collapse.
This really really hacks me off. Btw, aren’t those kids suppose to be in school?
Every day I think I cannot possibly become more disgusted with this narcissist jerk and his bunch than I already am...every day I am surprised as the disgust continues to grow!
Oh geeeeeez, Maggie, thanks for the report on their vacation, I think. What a bunch of hoo haaaaw. FOUR HUNDRED PEOPLE? Wonder if ANY of them are paying their own way or if you and I and the rest of the actual TAX PAYERS are footing the entire cabal.