The first week of President Barack Obama’s final Vineyard summer vacation as President followed in the vein of past visits: low-key and quiet, filled with familiar patterns. There was golf and an afternoon at the beach, a few evenings out to dinner, and down time with family and friends at the family’s rental home in Chilmark.
This marks the First Family’s seventh summer trip to the Island. And while onlookers still gathered at the Martha’s Vineyard Airport to greet their arrival and small crowds holding camera phones are often present when the motorcade passes by, the summer White House has largely passed under the radar. As the President’s time in the White House winds down, most of the political news is dominated by the race to elect his successor.
The President made four trips to Island golf courses in his first five full days on the Vineyard, hitting the links at Farm Neck on Sunday and Monday, Vineyard Golf Course on Wednesday and Mink Meadows on Thursday. His golf foursomes have included NBA players, past and present: Los Angeles Clippers point guard Chris Paul, Golden State Warriors point guard and 2016 league MVP Steph Curry and his father, retired shooting guard Dell Curry, retired star Alonzo Mourning, and former Celtics star Ray Allen. He was also joined by investor and seasonal Vineyard resident Glenn Hutchins, aide Joe Paulsen, and friend Cyrus Walker, who is advisor Valerie Jarrett’s cousin.
CBS News reported that Sunday’s golf game was the President’s 300th while in office.
The President and First Lady had dinner with friends on Sunday night at Down Island, a new restaurant on Kennebec avenue. The motorcade was met by cheering onlookers lining Circuit avenue upon arrival in downtown Oak Bluffs.
The restaurant is an upscale communal dining restaurant with a fixed $59 menu that changes weekly and is based on what is available locally. This menu for the week included octopus with marble potato, lettuce, and bouillabaisse, as well as Island-caught sea bass, roasted carrots and chocolate pate.
A few nights later the Obamas dined with friends at a perennial favorite, State Road restaurant in West Tisbury. The chalk sign outside the restaurant Tuesday read “Make it Last.”
Beyond golf and evenings out, the family also spent a warm afternoon with friends at a private beach in Edgartown on the Island’s south shore. On another day, President and daughter Malia took a morning walk near where they are staying.
The Obamas are staying for the third year at a family home owned by Joanne Hubschman off North Road in Chilmark.
On Thursday morning, the President released his summer music playlists on Twitter. A 19-song daytime playlist includes tracks by Wale, Jay Z feat. Pharrell, Aloe Blacc, the Beach Boys and Janelle Monae. A 20-song playlist of songs for the nighttime includes selections from Esperanza Spalding, Chance the Rapper, Fiona Apple, Floetry and D’Angelo.
Beyond the presidential motorcade there are, as usual, few signs of the Summer White House beyond an influx of White House staffers, Secret Service and members of the press at Island hotels. A “Welcome Back, First Family” sign and an American flag adorn North Road near where the family is staying.
As the President traveled to Mink Meadows golf course Thursday, two men held up a handmade Donald Trump sign outside the Tisbury School.
The First Family’s time away started at 2:37 p.m. Saturday as they arrived at Martha’s Vineyard Airport on a breezy, muggy day. The President and First Lady Michelle Obama stopped to greet people gathered in a viewing area on the airport tarmac where daughters Malia and Sasha headed to the motorcade, which whisked down Edgartown-West Tisbury Road about 10 minutes later.
About 60 people were gathered by the short-term parking lot outside the airport, taking pictures and hoping for a glimpse of the visitors from the White House. Children were perched on parents’ shoulders, and the crowd perked up with each approaching plane.
Secret Service officers were seen driving by in a golf cart, and a state police car and several black cars could be seen lining up near a large gray cargo plane on the tarmac.
West Tisbury summer residents Linda Thompson and Laurent Hubert said they came to see Mr. Obama’s arrival for what could be his last visit as President. They said it was their first time watching the First Family’s arrival.
Soon a flurry of helicopters and Osprey aircraft landed at the airport, and the crowd dispersed.
Earlier the First Family left the White House for the quick trip to Joint Base Andrews in Maryland. There they boarded Air Force One for the flight to Cape Cod and then the Vineyard. The President wore slacks and a button-down shirt, and the First Lady wore a dark blue dress with orange-red piping.
Upon arrival at Coast Guard Air Station Cape Cod, Air Force One was met by greeters including Tobias Vanderhoop, chairman of the Wampanoag Tribe of Gay Head (Aquinnah) and U.S. Rep. Bill Keating.
Mr. Keating, a Democrat who represents the 9th congressional district, gave the President a Titleist Pro V golf ball made in New Bedford. “He said he’s use it for his best shot,” Mr. Keating said. By Thursday afternoon the President had four rounds of golf under his belt, but there was no word whether he had used the Pro V ball yet.
In the second half of his vacation the President will attend to some political business. The White House announced Wednesday that he will attend a Democratic National Committee fundraiser on Monday at a private residence in Chilmark.
The First Family is scheduled to depart for Washington D.C. on Sunday, August 21.
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