I'm at my family's home in Kailua, Oahu, over the holidays, which also happens to be where President Obama vacations, and I've been jogging and surfing by the First Family's beach house every day. Since this has little do with what I usually blog about, photos and info below the break.

The actual vacation home is on Kailuana Place, a small isthmus between the canal and the shore, but above is what the street entrance looks like, when the Obamas are there -- Hawaii cops and US Secret Service, only letting registered neighbors and visitors in.

However, it's a lot easier to stroll by the Obama's vacation home via the beach. I recommend Kalama Beach Park (248 North Kalaheo Avenue), which is maybe a half mile walk along the shore from the Obama house, with public parking, showers and bathrooms, and even better, pretty decent small wave surfing. (Hawaii locals call the place "Shorebreaks".)

Facing Kalama beach, you just head left along the shore, walking toward Mokapu peninsula, or what locals call "turtle rock" or "turtle island" for obvious reasons. The Obama vacation home is at the very end of the beach.

Usually you can walk to the very tip of the beach, but this is what it looks like about 100 feet toward the end: a Secret Service guy (or another staffer) and some cops, in a white tent, shunting beachgoers aside. But that's the Presidents' place just behind him. Yesterday, I'm fairly sure Sasha Obama and some friends were playing in the water near this, and I passed a staffer walking Bo the dog along the beach.

Just a quick glimpse of what I do when I'm not blogging about virtual worlds and gaming, and Hawaii visitors' tips if you feel like getting a look at the Commander in Chief's vacation spot. Back to our Regularly Scheduled Virtual Programming.

Update, 12/27:

While I was writing this long post on how to visit Obama's beach house in Kailua, my cousins Nona and Patrick and their kids went for a hike along the Kailua coastline, a trail mostly known only to locals called "the Pillbox trail" for the World War II bunkers at the summit... and these folks happen along:





Which suggests a way less complicated way of meeting the President in Kailua: Just hang out where Hawaii locals usually hang out, and good chance the islands' most powerful local will show up there too.