Obama family to see sights, eat lobster in Maine coastal haven

NEW YORK - US President Barack Obama and his family will be spending a weekend relaxing at Mount Desert Island in Maine. he Obama family will be visiting this coastal haven in Maine exactly 100 years after the last president of the United States did.

Obama and his family arrive Friday for the weekend retreat.

“There is a lot of buzz,” the New York daily News quoted Mary Miller, owner of the White Ginger clothing store in the hamlet of Northeast Harbor, as saying.

The 108-square-mile island, 3-1/2 hours from Portland and 200 miles from the Bush family compound in Kennebunkport, is connected to the mainland by a bridge.

Cool sea breezes, piney woods, plentiful lobster and dramatic ocean views have long made it a favorite summer escape for the well-heeled.

Instead of bunking with one of the island’s rich residents, the 44th President, wife Michelle and First Daughters Sasha and Malia are reportedly spending two nights at the Regency, a Holiday Inn resort in Bar Harbor, the island’s best-known tourist town.

The best rooms, even at the height of the season, go for a relatively modest 269 dollars a night.

Hotelier Thomas Walsh, a big Democratic moneyman, owns the resort.

A century ago this weekend, Republican President William Howard Taft sailed his presidential yacht, The Mayflower, to the island for a similar three-day stay.

Taft played golf at the island’s Kebo Valley Golf Club - something the current golf-mad President may do, too.

Obama has plenty of open invitations.

The First Family leaves for Washington on Sunday morning. (ANI)