President Barack Obama put his political worries to one side and followed the traditional American call to "Go West" as he and his wife and daughters visited the Grand Canyon。

　　With wife Michelle, daughters Sasha and Malia and his White House retinue in tow, Mr Obama struck out into the wilderness on the third day of a four-day tour through western mountain states aimed at defending his health care reform bid。

　　Mr Obama's work-hard, play-hard tour mixes trips to some of America's most majestic beauty spots with the serious business of thwarting Republican attacks on his health care plan. He held two town hall meetings on the issue in Montana and Colorado on Friday and Saturday。

　　Mr Obama, the first city slicker president in decades, has spent his adult life in New York, Boston, Chicago and, now, Washington. Basketball, golf, and bodysurfing comprise his athletic activities. Indoor daily gym workouts are the norm. Fishing and hunting are not part of his typical repertoire。

　　But late on Friday, the president tried his hand at fly fishing, fulfilling an often-stated goal from the campaign trail。

　　"Every time we'd been to Montana… he said, 'I'm going to come back here and learn how to fly fish,'" said Robert Gibbs, Mr Obama's spokesman。

　　"He was dying to do that and finally got a chance… though he was a bit frustrated he didn't get to hold one of the fish," Mr Gibbs admitted。

　　Michelle Obama and his two daughters, meanwhile, spent Saturday whitewater rafting in the shadow of Montana's craggy peaks "in the rain, and I'm told, in the hail", said Mr Gibbs. Despite the inclement weather, "they had a blast", he added。

　　近日，美国总统巴拉克•奥巴马总统将他的政治烦恼抛在一边，响应美国传统的“西行”号召，和妻子女儿一同游历了大峡谷。

　　奥巴马此次西部山区之旅为期四天，主要目的是为他的医疗改革方案进行辩护。在整个行程的第三天，奥巴马和妻子米歇尔，女儿萨莎和玛丽娅以及他的白宫随从人员忙里偷闲，游览了西部荒野。

　　奥巴马此行既要努力工作，也要开心游玩。他游览了一些美国最壮丽的景点，同时要处理重要政务，抵制共和党人对其医疗改革计划的攻击。他于上周五和周六分别在蒙大拿州和科罗拉多州针对该问题举行了两次市政厅会议。

　　奥巴马是几十年来首位“城市总统”，他成年后先后在纽约、波士顿、芝加哥以及现在所在的华盛顿度过。他钟爱的体育运动包括篮球、高尔夫和徒手冲浪。他通常在体育馆内进行日常锻炼。而钓鱼和打猎并不是他的拿手项目。

　　但在上周五晚些时候，总统先生则尝试了飞蝇钓鱼，实现了其在总统竞选期间的承诺。

　　奥巴马的发言人罗伯特•吉布斯说：“每次我们去蒙大拿州，他都会说，‘我还要再回来，学习飞钓’。”

　　吉布斯坦称：“他非常期待学习钓鱼，现在终于如愿以偿……不过没能钓到鱼让他有些沮丧。”

　　据吉布斯介绍，周六当天，米歇尔•奥巴马则和两个女儿在蒙大拿州陡峭山崖之间乘木筏漂流，“当时下了雨，但据她们所说，则是下了冰雹。他说，尽管天气恶劣，但“她们玩得很尽兴”。