Vice President Al Gore and his wife, Tipper, departed St. Thomas Tuesday morning to head back to Washington, D.C., where the vice president will meet later in the day with President-elect George W. Bush.
Gore, originally set to depart on Monday, stretched his weekend vacation on St. Thomas to Tuesday morning. It was 11:19 a.m. when Air Force Two took off from Cyril E. King Airport.
The vice president and his wife arrived on Saturday afternoon for a weekend of rest and made no public appearances during his stay here. Shortly after the presidential flight departed, a military transport plane taxied to the airport's north ramp to prepare to return to Washington vehicles and support equipment used during the Gores' visit.
Gore is not the first vice president nor the first unsuccessful presidential candidate to visit the V.I. Among others, Dan Quayle vacationed on St. John in the early '90s. George McGovern, who has been a frequent visitor to St. Thomas because of his friendship with businessman Henry L. Kimmelman, came here not long after losing his bid for president in 1972.