Vice President Mike Pence has chosen the Vail Valley as his holiday destination, according to multiple sources.

The vice president’s extensive security detail has checked in at various hotels across the valley, and Air Force 2 was expected to land sometime Wednesday evening at Eagle County Regional Airport.

A large police presence was observed late Wednesday afternoon by numerous visitors around the airport facility. A call to a White House spokesperson had not been returned as of 5:30 p.m. Wednesday.

David O. Williams with RealVail.com was the first to report Pence’s visit.

Amber Barrett with the Eagle County Sheriff’s Office confirmed that deputies were assisting the Secret Service with logistics.

“Secret Service will often request assistance from local law enforcement and the Eagle County Sheriff’s Office will often help when requested,” Barrett said. “The Secret Service won’t typically give us many details until time of.”

The Vail Police Department is also assisting, the Vail Daily has learned.

The vice president hasn’t been to Vail since 2018, when he came here to attend a friend’s wedding at Camp Hale on Memorial Day weekend. That weekend, Pence and wife Karen met with four Gold Star families in Minturn’s Turntable restaurant, and then surprised a Sunday congregation at The Vail Church.

Vail and the White House

Vail and Beaver Creek have repeatedly been a destination for presidents, vice presidents and other White House officials over the years.

President Gerald Ford started coming to Vail in the 1960s when he was a Michigan congressman and was such a regular at the resort during his presidency that the national press began referring to Ford’s Vail home as “The Western White House.”

Vice President Dick Cheney often attended American Enterprise Institute discussions in Beaver Creek during the George W. Bush administration, while Michelle Obama visited Eagle County during her husband’s presidency.

And 30 years ago this week, Vice President Dan Quayle visited Vail over the Christmas holiday. During his visit, a member of his Secret Service detail was charged with misdemeanor theft when she allegedly tried to walk out of a Gart Brothers sporting goods store with a ski jacket hidden in a shopping bag.

Nate Peterson, Chris Freud and Pam Boyd contributed reporting.

This story is from VailDaily.com.