PHOENIX — In the elite circles of private schools in Washington, D.C., globe-trotting vacations are common, but it is hard to imagine that many schoolmates of Malia and Sasha Obama will be able to rival their summer adventures.
Although the White House zealously guards many of the details of the Obamas' private family time, the public caught a glimpse Sunday of the girls' sightseeing tour of the Grand Canyon, and a day earlier, of their visit to Yellowstone National Park.
Earlier this summer, photographers captured visits by the first daughters to the Eiffel Tower and the Pompidou Center in Paris, a slave dungeon in Ghana, and the Kremlin in Moscow.
The girls' tour of London with their mother included stops at Big Ben, the Tower of London and 10 Downing St., where they met the prime minister's wife.
This weekend, First Lady Michelle Obama and her daughters joined President Obama on a swing through Montana, Colorado and Arizona, blending family time with his campaign to overhaul the nation's healthcare system.
Arriving outside Bozeman, Mont., on Friday -- shortly before a heavy thundershower drowned out the introductory remarks of a speaker at Obama's event -- the president announced that his family was heading off for a white-water rafting trip without him.
"I just heard some rain out there, so I don't know what's going on there, but they're on their way," Obama told his audience.
Malia, 11, and Sasha, 8, dealt not just with rain but hail on their 1 1/2 -hour river excursion -- which a White House spokesman described as "a blast" -- before decamping to a mountain resort near the timberline in Big Sky, Mont.
The president joined them in Big Sky after fly-fishing, unsuccessfully, for rainbow trout on the east fork of the Gallatin River with his deputy chief of staff, Jim Messina.
Avoiding summer traffic the next morning on a fee-free weekend at the national parks, the first family headed by helicopter to Yellowstone for a private walking tour of Black Sand Basin, an area that encompasses fountain geysers and the Emerald Pool hot spring.
After the family watched an eruption of the Old Faithful geyser, White House staffers allowed the cameras to chronicle a stop for ice cream at a nearby general store.
Leaning over the counter with Sasha, Obama asked about the ingredients of flavors like Moose Tracks, Stuck in a Rut -- a caramel and vanilla concoction that was Sasha's choice -- and Buffalo Chip.
