ASHEVILLE, N.C. — First stop for the first couple’s weekend getaway on Friday was a roadside restaurant that President Barack Obama visited during the final month of his White House campaign.
First meal on the trip: barbecued ribs.
Obama and first lady Michelle Obama landed in the Blue Ridge Mountains and made a quick stop at 12 Bones Smokehouse on the way to their resort. The White House said the first couple ate ribs, macaroni and cheese, greens, baked beans, corn bread, and corn pudding, and washed it down with sweet tea.
A short time later, they set about working off the meal; the Obamas went on a mountain hike and the president then hit the golf course.
“In the hole,” Obama urged his ball as it rolled on the green, the sun setting on his game. The White House allowed reporters to cover the president’s putts on the 10th hole.
This trip was meant to be vacation, and Obama didn’t plan to make calls on the fierce debate over financial reform legislation in the Senate, press secretary Robert Gibbs told reporters Friday at the White House. “Knock on wood,” Gibbs said.
On Obama’s previous visit to the city, in October 2008, the then-senator prepared for a debate and rallied supporters — and lamented he couldn’t play golf. “I’m going to have to come back,” he said.
