“As I always say, it certainly wasn’t my idea,” Scotty replied. “Anyway, the first president to have a retreat located outside of Washington was Hoover, who founded Rapidan Camp in 1929 in an area that became the Shenandoah National Park after the Hoovers deeded it to the National Park Service. FDR didn’t like that place, and besides, he spent most of his off time at his home in Hyde Park, New York, or on his presidential yacht, the USS Potomac. During World War II, it was decided that it was too dangerous to use the yacht because of the possibility of being attacked by bombers or U-boats, so they went looking for another location and ended up at the place that’s now Camp David. Roosevelt called it Shangri-La. President Eisenhower thought that name was too fancy, so he renamed it Camp David, after his grandson, who later married one of the Nixon daughters.

“Roosevelt hosted Winston Churchill at the camp, and Presidents Carter and Clinton hosted the Middle East peace summits in 1978 and 2000, and many other world leaders have come to Camp David. There’s all sorts of cool stuff there, like a gym, a bowling alley, a heated pool, a game room and a movie theater, but if you’re thinking it’s going to be fancy like the White House, it’s not. The word ‘rustic’ is most often used to describe the accommodations. The president’s cabin is called Aspen, and that’s where we’ll stay, and your office is located at Laurel, Dad, but I’m sure they’ll show you where that is as they drive you around on Golf Cart One.”

Sam recalled making a deal with Scotty to go to the gym together on vacation. She hoped he’d forgotten about that.

“Wait,” Nick said. “That’s really a thing? Golf Cart One?”

“Yep,” Scotty said.

“Do I get to drive?” Nick asked.

“Yep,” Scotty said again.

“Yes,” Nick said with a fist pump. “I miss driving.”

“I want to drive, too,” Scotty said. “It’s never too soon for you to start teaching me how. And since we can’t use an actual car, this will have to do.”

“We’ll see what we can do,” Nick said, smiling.

Sam looked out the window for familiar landmarks and recognized the Baltimore-Washington Parkway, which was strangely devoid of traffic, thanks to the holiday week.

“When can we go to the game room?” Alden asked.

“As soon as we get there,” Nick promised him. “We just have to get settled first and figure out the lay of the land.”

“What does that mean?” Alden asked. “Lay of the land?”

“The location of everything. I’m sure they’ll give us a tour.”