Cheney's Retirement Food: Sushi

By Paul Bedard, Washington Whispers

Dick Cheney has given up "undisclosed location" as his official address. In fact, as his friends, family, and associates tell us, the former vice president is stepping out and enjoying it. As with his old boss, former President Bush, who's been photographed taking out the trash, Cheney has embraced the freedom of being a "former" without all the demands and overwhelming security force. "He's just enjoying life," says one friend.

Actually two lives: one in Northern Virginia and the other on the waterfront at his second home in St. Michaels, Md., an Eastern Shore town on the Chesapeake Bay. Asked about several sightings in McLean, Va., his daughter Mary says that her parents have "definitely not retired in NoVa. Actually, he and my mom are spending a lot of time at their place on the Eastern Shore."

But it's in Northern Virginia where he's been spotted tooling around. Our spies have caught him at Starbucks, the upscale Balducci's gourmet store, and even at the local parks watching his grandchildren play softball. At Balducci's, we hear he was buying his-and-hers sub sandwiches, but daughter Mary set us straight on her dad's heart-healthy diet. "He buys sushi at Balducci's, not subs—they sell them at the same counter." Cheney's fave part of retirement: He's behind the wheel. "He is driving himself—and loves it," says Mary. "He really missed driving when he was VP," she adds in a comment often heard from first and second families.

And besides working on his vice presidential memoirs, Cheney has become hooked on Amazon's Kindle, the electronic book and news reading gizmo that was a Christmas gift from wife Lynne. That and playing with his grandchildren. He even supervised the family's Easter egg hunt last weekend.

Illustration by Ed Wexler for USN&WR

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