Michelle Obama in Vail for weekend
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VAIL, Colorado – First lady Michelle Obama is among the Presidents Day weekend crowd.
Obama arrived Friday night for a weekend of skiing in Vail and Beaver Creek, according to local sources.
A motorcade of about a dozen vehicles, including 15 state and local law enforcement officers, traveled from the Eagle County Regional Airport to Vail on Friday night, according to the Colorado State Patrol. Roads were temporarily blocked to make way for the motorcade in Eagle.
The motorcade entered an underground garage beneath the Sebastian hotel in Vail Village shortly after 9:30 p.m.
No stranger to the slopes
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It won’t be the first lady’s first time on skis. She took daughters Sasha and Malia for a quick trip to Liberty Mountain Resort, in Carroll Valley, Pa., in February 2010. It was the first time on skis for the first daughters, according to Anne Weimer, marketing director at Ski Liberty.
During an interview posted by Liberty Mountain, the first lady was asked about some her favorite hot spots. Instead, she talked about a cool spot.
“We discovered skiing. My girls had never been skiing,” she said. “With a couple hours, you’re skiing.”
Ski Liberty is 60 minutes from the White House.
“You can go from 60- and 50-degree weather to being on a slope. Not too many places in this country you can do that and still be at the seat of power. It’s kind of cool,” she said in the interview.
Obama has made health and fitness one of her primary causes, and skiing burns up to 400 calories an hour, ski-industry sources say.
Meanwhile, Vice President Joe Biden is spending the Presidents Day holiday weekend in the Florida Keys.
The White House says Biden and his wife traveled to Key Largo on Thursday night. The couple will remain in the Upper Keys through Monday.
No public events are scheduled for the first lady’s visit to Vail.
Staff Writer Randy Wyrick can be reached at 970-748-2935 or rwyrick@vaildaily.com. Community Editor Lauren Glendenning contributed to this report.
