Picture This: Star Trek in Our Kogod Courtyard January 12, 2010

Star Trek Action in the Kogod Courtyard by Mr. T in DC

Our Kogod Courtyard is a great place to meet friends, read a book, or surf the net using our free WiFi. But this Star Trek action figure sighting is a first. From American Art's Flickr group, photographer "Mr. T in DC" explains it all:

Action figure of B'Elanna Torres, Chief Engineer of the starship Voyager in the Kogod Courtyard of the Reynolds Center in downtown Washington, DC. She prefers mechanical and scientific pursuits to art and museums, but went along with me in return for a glass of Klingon blood-wine in the cafe.

American Art's a great place to photograph (unlike many museums we allow photography in all of our permanent collection areas). And after looking around, come back to our courtyard's or Luce Foundation Center's Wifi access points so you can upload those images to our Flickr group or tweet them to all your followers.

I hope B'Elanna got a chance to see some art while she was here, something like Frederick Church's Aurora Borealis in our second floor galleries. The celestial, yet decidedly down-to-earth seascape would be a good reminder that views on Earth can be as spectacular as those on the Starship Voyager. And just to clarify and not scare young children and their parents away, we don't really serve blood-wine in our Café. Our menu is decidedly family friendly (and out of this world).

• Kogod Courtyard, Star Trek, Photography, Flickr, American Art, Smithsonian American Art Museum