The trip would have been canceled had he remembered to purchase trip insurance.

Though his agency was charged with coordinating the federal response to the major oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, Department of the Interior chief of staff Tom Strickland was in the Grand Canyon with his wife last week participating in activities that included white-water rafting, ABC News has learned. [Tapper]

In the agency’s defense, the vacation was “work focused.”

An administration source says that Strickland’s trip to the Grand Canyon was work-focused … they discussed matters such as river flows, beach erosion, humpback chub, tamarisk control, overflights, safety, motor boats, and wilderness management.

Humback chub and motor boatin’ … sounds like work to us.