Her incognito trip to Target made headlines, but Michelle Obama is revealing there were other undercover outings during her time in the White House.
“I managed to make lightning-strike shopping trips from time to time, coming and going from a place before anyone really registered I was there,” Obama writes in her memoir “Becoming,” which was released Tuesday.
The former first lady details one memorable expedition to a pet store when one of the Obamas’ dogs made mince meat out of all the canine toys at the executive mansion.
“After Bo expertly disemboweled or shredded every last dog toy bought for him by the staff who did our regular shopping, I personally escorted him over to PetSmart in Alexandria one morning. And for a short while, I enjoyed glorious anonymity while browsing for better chew toys as Bo — who was as delighted by the novelty of the outing as I was — loafed next to me on a leash.”
Obama’s 2011 visit to Target was made public after an Associated Press photographer snapped photos of her sporting sunglasses and a baseball cap and pushing one of the store’s signature red shopping carts.
Obama, 54, says she was “giddy” as she “wandered every single aisle” at the department store.
Obama writes: “I selected some Oil of Olay face cream and new toothbrushes,” as Secret Service agents trailed her wearing shorts and sneakers to better fit in.
“And for the first time in several years,” Obama recalls, “I was able to pick out a card to give to Barack on our anniversary.”
Obama, who describes constantly feeling confined by the fishbowl-like and security-heavy existence of life in the White House, says she became more daring in her unannounced excursions the longer she lived in Washington.
“The most liberating activity of all turned out to be downhill skiing, a sport with which I had little experience but that quickly became a passion,” Obama writes.
President Obama’s wife, a former lawyer, paid multiple visits to Liberty Mountain, a ski area near Gettysburg, Pa., saying she and friends could “don helmets, scarves, and goggles and blend into any crowd.”
“Gliding down a ski slope, I was outdoors, in motion, and unrecognized — all at once. For me, it was like flying.”
“Anytime I went somewhere without a fuss,” Obama writes, “it felt like a small victory, an exercise of free will.”
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