Reuters
After one of the most prolific lame-duck sessions of Congress in history, President Obama headed to Hawaii. But where did his predecessors go on vacation?
After finally pushing through the New Start treaty, a repeal of Don’t Ask Don’t Tell and a tax cut/unemployment compromise, President Obama can finally take a breather. His destination of choice? Hawaii, where he spent much of his childhood. As part of his 11-day stay, President Obama plans to play some golf, spend some time on the beach and largely stay out of the public spotlight.
Likewise, his predecessors reveled in being able to escape the capital when they could. President Calvin Coolidge would shoot clay pigeons in Wisconsin. President Herbert Hoover fished in Florida. President Dwight D. Eisenhower, one of the great presidential lovers of golf, would hit the links. President George W. Bush famously (or, perhaps, infamously) spent plenty of time at the Western White House in Texas clearing brush (533 days of vacation, in fact). For decades, Martha’s Vineyard has been a getaway for multiple presidents all the way back to Franklin Delano Roosevelt.
But not all vacations have been positive. In 1881, James Garfield was shot while leaving Washington and died two months later in New Jersey. While on vacation in Vermont, Vice President Coolidge learned of President Warren Harding’s death and was sworn in as president next to a kerosene lamp at 2 a.m.
For more, check out TIME’s Brief History of Presidential Vacations.