A farewell to summer and, for now, to Crawford

It must have been something like going back to school after the final vacation, with senior year drawing to a close.

President Bush and Laura Bush flew back to Washington today after a late-summer break at their home in Crawford, Texas.

Tony Fratto, a deputy White House press secretary, put it this way for reporters aboard Air Force One this afternoon:

We're on our way back to Washington, D.C., I guess the last visit to Crawford for August, for last August, last hot August in Crawford for the president and all of you. So we're on our way back to Washington.

It was back to business -- at least for a short while.

The president was planning to have dinner with Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, just back from three weeks of intensive travel (Georgia two weeks ago, Europe and Iraq last week, and the Middle East this week).

"You can expect them to have extensive discussions about where things are going with respect to Russia and Georgia," Fratto said.

And, oh yes, he said, the president had been doing some work at the ranch: Bush took a phone call Tuesday night from President Mikheil Saakashvili of Georgia.

As for Crawford, that one-light crossroads town seven miles from Bush's Prairie Chapel Ranch, the president's departure will likely make no difference -- nor will his departure from the presidency.

The Washington Post noted that "these days, even protesters rarely visit..."

-- James Gerstenzang

Photo: Brendan Hoffman / Getty Images