(Image Credit: Nicholas Kamm/AFP/Getty Images)

It's spring break for the Obama daughters and mom has taken them West for the week.  Michelle Obama and her daughters visited Mount Rushmore Wednesday to see the monument where  four U.S. presidents are immortalized in stone on the soaring mountainside.

Now the Obamas have arrived in Las Vegas for a private family visit.

At the depths of the recession, President Obama seemed to disparage Las Vegas visits, at one point warning hard-pressed Americans, "You don't blow a bunch of cash in Vegas when you're trying to save for college."

There is lingering dismay in the Las Vegas travel and tourism industry but, during the political campaign, Obama has been a frequent visitor on official and political trips to the swing state of Nevada.

The first lady's private schedule with Sasha and Malia in Las Vegas is short.  They travel on to California for publicly announced events, including a San Francisco political fundraiser Friday,  the Saturday commissioning of a new Coast Guard ship in Alameda, and  then a chance to meet music sensation Taylor Swift.

Michelle Obama is to present Swift with an award at the Nickelodeon Kids' Choice Awards in Los Angeles.