Planning on staying close to home, with kith and kin this Christmas? Well, that is a great thing to do, but seriously, for a memorable Christmas, you might also consider taking off to some place you might not normally associate with the Yuletide holiday. I have had the privilege of being able to travel frequently, and have on more than one occasion found myself in a strange town on Christmas Day – and, frankly I’ve never regretted it. In fact, I’ve had more fun at Christmas in some of the unlikeliest places.
Rummaging through the attic of my memories, I came up with a list of the three places, out of the more than 49 cities I’ve been at Christmas time, that are most memorable.
Atchison, Kansas. Situated on the Missouri River in eastern Kansas, Atchison is a town with an interesting history. It was at one time the terminus of the great cattle drives from Texas ranches, where livestock was transshipped to markets in the Midwest and the East coast, and has more banks per capita than almost any other city in the United States. The mansions of the bankers who profited from America’s need for protein can still be seen on the bluffs overlooking the river. Atchison is also billed as the most haunted city in Kansas, with a haunted house tour offered to visitors on the trolley that still runs there. Now, this might seem more appropriate for Halloween than Christmas, but I can promise you’ll never forget a Christmas tour of houses supposedly inhabited by ghosts of “Christmases past.” Atchison is also the home of renowned aviator Amelia Earhart, who mysteriously disappeared on a flight across the Pacific. You really won’t want to miss a tour of her birthplace, which is a museum.
Sierra Vista and Huachuca City, Arizona. I’m a history buff, and having grown up in east Texas where December is seldom cold, I have a preference for warm weather at Christmas. Of all the places I’ve visited, Sierra Vista, Arizona is the one that fits both criteria. In 1971, the city annexed the nearby US Army post, Fort Huachuca, which was the home of the US Army 9th Cavalry ‘Buffalo Soldiers,’ and also served as the base of operations against Geronimo and to secure the border in that area against Mexico in the 1800s. A little known fact is that the airfield in Sierra Vista, which is also used by the military base, was an alternate landing site for the space shuttle, although it was never used. From 1916 to 1917, Fort Huachuca was commanded by Charles Young, the first black graduate of West Point, making it the first US military base to be under the command of a minority.
Corpus Christi, Texas. I would be remiss if I failed to include my own home state on the list of my favorite places to spend Christmas. It’s not, however, my home in upper east Texas that fascinates me, but the coastal city of Corpus Christi. For me, nothing beats sitting on the beach being bathed by the warmth of the winds off the Gulf of Mexico, and sipping tequila as the sun sets on Christmas Eve. The Harbor Lights Festival, held annually in the bay, is one of America’s premier holiday events, and one you definitely will remember. One note about the weather; while December is normally mild, in 2004, the city was blanketed for a while with a historic snowfall; the first Christmas snowfall for many residents, adding more to the mystique of the Yule season in one of the most favored vacation destinations for those who would rather miss the chill of winter.