First Lady Sneaks Out ‘As Much as Possible’

Turns out Target isn't the only place to find Michelle Obama.

The first lady sneaks out of the White House "as much as possible," she told Al Roker during a "Today" show interview.

That's cute and all, but this next part is straight out of an Onion article: She once took family dog Bo to Petco -- and no one noticed.

"And the cashier asked me, 'Oh, what kind of dog is that?'" Mrs. Obama told Roker. "I said, 'A Portuguese water dog.'"

The cashier eventually realized who she was from her credit card.

Last month, Mrs. Obama shopped at a Target in Alexandria, her face masked by a baseball cap and sunglasses. Plain-clothed Secret Service agents had conducted a subtle sweep of the store about 30 minutes before her arrival.

The first lady said it's easy to go unnoticed, simply because no one expects to see her.

"As quiet as it's kept -- or, not so quiet -- I do that more than people realize," she said. "It's amazing how people don't recognize you. They don't expect to see me at Starbucks, or at Chipotle."

Mrs. Obama says the trips outside the White House help her and her daughters maintain a sense of normalcy.

"So, my secret's out, but we try to sneak out as much as possible," she said. And it helps to keep our kids' lives normal." Outings to Baskin Robbins are easy, she said, because kids are just excited to get their ice cream, and aren't paying attention to what's going on around them.

One thing she doesn't need to go out for: toilet paper -- and yes, Roker asked.