Into the Mystic: Arizona Christmas City

Currently In: Phoenix, AZ
Up Next: Tucson, AZ then El Paso, Alpine, Del Rio and Mercedes, TX

Yesterday we drove a little over an hour north to Prescott, AZ known as the "Arizona Christmas City". Our first stop was the display of Gingerbread houses at the Prescott Resort.

This is a wonderful community event with houses built by schools, families and businesses. We saw displays that ranged from simple to others that were more detailed to some that looked professional! The two concepts below were so creative, although the trim is falling off the suitcase!

The detail on these houses was incredible.

It's all in the execution here.

This cute little campground scene holds a special place in my heart.

Once we got to the historic part of Prescott, we took a look at the historic Hassayampa Inn built in 1927. Most of the building in historic downtown are on the National Register of Historic Places, but I was especially interested in this hotel.

The hotel was restored in 1985 and the results are fantastic. In addition to the architecture, the fireplace, hand painted ceiling and other artwork make the lobby really special.

This beautiful staircase leads to the guest rooms.

This stairway leads to the cozy bar with some great artwork. The door is etched glass and the piece hanging on the right of the door is a mosaic of the hotel.

Then we headed outdoors with our winter coats on - it was sometimes sunny and 35. First we checked out Courthouse Plaza. This courthouse dates back to 1916, but the original territorial courthouse was built in 1878 when Prescott served as the capital for the entire Arizona Territory.

This sculpture represents the Rough Riders and was created by America's first cowboy sculptor, Solon Borglum, in 1907.

One unique attraction in the Plaza is the history of the county painted on the sidewalk. Very proud people here.

Very proud of their rodeo history, too. We saw this building from the Plaza.

Next stop: Whiskey Row - a row of saloons along one side of Courthouse Plaza. This building houses The Palace Saloon, the oldest frontier saloon in Arizona, from 1877.

Oh, what the heck, let's stop in for a beer.

The oak and cherry bar is original. Notice the tin ceiling, too!

As this whole area is very touristy, many of the staff are in costume.

The saloon patrons could lock valuables in this original Diebold safe, especially when they visited the ladies upstairs.

We saw tributes to the Prescott 19, the firefighters from this town that lost their lives in the Yarnell Fire of 2013, all over the town. Here is the one at the Palace Saloon.

In addition to all of the historic buildings, there are several historic homes just a block away from Courthouse Plaza in an area called Nob Hill. We drove around to look at many of the Victorian and Queen Anne style homes. The Marks House, below, was built in 1894. The real estate developer would only sell Mr. Marks the "lowest lot" at the bottom of the hill since Mr. Marks was a liquor wholesaler.

At this point we were hungry! We tried this very popular Italian restaurant. I loved the sign hanging in our dining room - "A bit of Italy in the Pines". It was delicious!