Christopher Columbus, I love you.

Normally there aren't perks to working at a bank. Contrary to popular opinion, banks in 2008 stay open past 4pm. And I only get two weeks of paid vacation a year. But, one perk to working at a bank is Columbus Day - the holiday that no one else celebrates. In celebration this year Andy and I and our good friends Ben & Beth took a fun road trip to Alpine, TX.

We enjoyed the art galleries in Marfa:
We had fun dinners:
Andy played at a little bar in Alpine called Harry Tinaja's with our wonderful friend and amazing banjo player, Billy Faier:
We hiked at Big Bend National Park:

And we hung out at Billy Faier's place, enjoying some wonderful true blue folk music. I need to add that Beth and I made dinner on the spur of the moment (literally) with the few random ingredients we could find on hand at Billy's place. It was quite the adventure.
Check out the light box that Billy made in the 70's. Apparently he made a whole traveling display's worth of these. Isn't it awesome?

By the way... If you are a Dave Van Ronk fan, you need to know that Billy Faier taught him the song "Mr. Noah".