Today Rachel and I ate cinnamon rolls and photographed a blue jay before heading out on our bike tour of the mall. Our intended destination was the newly renovated American History Museum. We were (read: Rachel was) especially interested in seeing the Lincoln exhibit. (She has a strange attraction to his top hat.) This weekend would be his 200th birthday, should he have managed to live that long. After we were done there we went down the Mall to the Vietnam War Memorial and then up to the Lincoln Memorial (where we saw some dudes in fancy costumes) before heading back home. Tonight scallops, pasta, cheesecake, and (I’m hoping) a game of Settlers of Catan are all on the menu. My Valentine’s Day present was a copy of the latest Settlers expansion, Traders and Barbarians. (I know even though I haven’t opened it yet.)

Anyway, here are a few pics from the day:

Rachel and I went out to see Barack Obama’s Inauguration today. We were far enough back that we couldn’t actually see what was going on at the Capitol, but here are some shots of what we did see, both in our trek to and from the National Mall and our experience there.

Regardless of your political persuasion, there is no doubt that the inauguration of America’s first African-American President is an historic moment, and it was very cool to be there for it.

How did you experience the Presidential Inauguration?

I took this shot on the way home from the inauguration. It was inspired by a similar (although much better) one from David Russell. There are some things that are too easily forgotten.

This is Bernard (or so we’ve named him), the St. Bernard that lives across the street from us. He’s quite cute.