Corpus Christi, Texas, is 1,040 miles and a couple of cultures away from Chattanooga.
It’s a seaside city with a large port on Corpus Christi Bay, an inlet of the Gulf of Mexico. Chattanooga, on the other hand, sits snugly in an area of ridges, waterfalls and mountains.
Corpus Christi’s population is nearly double Chattanooga’s. And it has the triple influences of the Southern United States, Texas (which residents insist is its own special world) and its next-door neighbor Mexico.
But the cities have a few things in common.
For starters, they both claim cute nicknames: Chattanooga is known as the Scenic City and Corpus Christi promotes itself as the Sparkling City by the Sea.