Learn some New Mexico facts and fun trivia answers to questions often asked from people moving to New Mexico in 2022.
1. New Mexico has more Cows than People.
2. New Mexico's nickname is the Land of Enchantment.
3. New Mexico is not in Mexico and became the 47th State in the United States before Arizona, Alaska and Hawaii.
4. New Mexico became a State on January 6, 1912.
5. New Mexico's nickname is the Land of Enchantment.
6. Santa Fe is the Capital city of New Mexico.
7. Santa Fe is the HIGHEST Capital city in the United States.
8. New Mexico had three (3) National Parks: Carlsbad Caverns National Park, White Sands National Park and Chaco Culture National Historical Park.
9. New Mexico is located in the Southwestern United States with all four (4) natural seasons: summer, fall, winter and spring.
10. The Chihuahua is New Mexico's state dog.
11. New Mexico is home to 19 Native American Pueblos and 1 Navajo and 2 Apache Reservations.
12. The State Fish of New Mexico is the Rio Grande Cutthroat Trout and native to the state.
13. New Mexico's Capital City of Santa Fe is the highest Capital city in the United States.
14. New Mexico has twelve (12) active ski areas and resorts: Angel Fire Resort, Enchanted Forest Cross County Ski Area, Pajarito Mountain Ski Area, Red River Ski area, Sandia Peak Ski Area, Sipapu Ski Resort, Ski Chama, Ski Santa Fe, Ski Cloudcroft, Ski Apache, Taos Ski Valley and Triple M.
15. Billy the Kid aka Henry McCarty is the most notorious name is New Mexico history/
16. Santa Fe was founded and settled in 1610 long before the Mayflower reached Plymouth rock.
17. The report of a "flying saucer" in Roswell, New Mexico in 1947 launched the UFO movement and story of an extraterrestrial spacecraft crashing in New Mexico.
18. The blossom of the Yucca "yuh-ka" desert plant is the New Mexico State flower officially named as of 1927 after being selected by school children.
19. Smokey Bear is from New Mexico. Smokey was actually a black bear cub rescued in southeastern New Mexico from the Capitan Gap fire of 1950. The National Zoo in Washington DC became Smokey Bear's home until his death in 1976.
20. The American Black Bear was named the state's official animal on February 8, 1963 by the State Legislature.
21. Lew Wallace wrote Ben Hur when he was the Governor of the New Mexico Territory (1878-1881).
23. The lowest point in New Mexico is the Red Bluff Reservoir at 2,842 feet.
24. New Mexico has thirteen (13) extinct volcanoes throughout the state.
25. The New Mexico constitution originally banned "idiots" from voting. In 2016, the New Mexico Supreme Count following a voter approved amendment instead prohibits only New Mexicans who are mentally incompetent from voting if they cannot mark their ballot or otherwise communicate their choice.
26. Elizabethtown was incorporated in 1866 as New Mexico's first incorporated town. Today it is a ghost town.
27. New Mexico has two (2) National Laboratories: Los Alamos National Laboratory and Sandia National Laboratory.
28. New Mexico is famous for several foods: green chili, green chili cheeseburgers, chiles rellenos, red chili, carne adovada, huevos rancheros, sopapillas, blue corn, stacked red chili enchiladas, pinon, tamales, tortillas, posole, chicos, natillas, chicharrones, beans, horno bread, calabacitas, navajo fry bread and biscochitos,
29. The highest mountain peak in New Mexico is Wheeler Peak in the Taos Mountains at 13,167 feet above sea level.
30. New Mexico's Albuquerque International Balloon Fiesta is the largest Balloon Festival in both the United States and the World.
31. The official bird of New Mexico is the Roadrunner.
32. The first television series filmed in New Mexico was "Breaking Bad" from 2008-2013.
33. Los Alamos, New Mexico is the home to the most PhDs per capital in New Mexico.
34. The first atomic bomb was detonated in the desert sands of south-central New Mexico on July 16, 1945.
35. There are thirty-five (35) diverse State parks in New Mexico where you can explore everything from mountain forests to lakes to the desert landscape and even dinosaur tracks!
36. Jeff Bezos was born in New Mexico in 1964.
37. The report of a "flying saucer" in Roswell, New Mexico launched the UFO movement and story of an extraterrestrial spacecraft crashing in New Mexico.
38. New Mexico has five (5) National Forests: Lincoln National Forest, Cibola National Forest, Gila National Forest, Carson National Forest and Santa Fe National Forest.
39. The Santa Fe Trail was the first commercial highway to pass through New Mexico in 1821.
40. In 1911, New Mexico had 900 registered cars before the arrival of Ford's Model-T.
41. President Theodore Roosevelt was the first President of the United States to visit New Mexico in October 1916 and he arrived by train in Albuquerque.
42. New Mexico has eleven (11) National Monuments: Aztec Ruins National Monument, Salinas Pueblo Missions National Monument, Bandelier National Monument, El Malpais National Monument, Kasha-Katuwe Tent Rocks National Monument, Capulin Volcano National Monument, El Morro National Monument, Gila Cliff Dwellings National Monument, El Morro National Monument, Petroglyph National Monument and Fort Union National Monument.
43. The first airplane landed in New Mexico in 1928 in the area now the Albuquerque Airport.
44. The "Indian Day School" shot in 1898 by Thomas Edison was the first film shot in the New Mexico Territory and launched New Mexico as setting for film shoots due to its dramatic landscapes and many old west locations.
45. New Mexico has four seasons and seven (6) distinct climate zones: desert, grasslands, pinon-juniper woodlands, ponderosa pine and mixed conifer.
46. Slang words important to know when in New Mexico: Christmas-style (red and green chili), Burque or ABQ (nicknames for Albuquerque), Sunport (Albuquerque International Airport), LA (Los Alamos), Big I (where I-40 and I-25 freeways meet), Vegas (Las Vegas, NM), Topos (Isotopes, New Mexico Minor League Baseball team) and Tamalewood (short for movie productions).
47. According to the 2020 National Census, there are 2.087 million people living in New Mexico.
48. Celebrities who have homes and live in New Mexico: Julia Roberts, Gene Hackman, Shirley MacLaine and George R. R. Martin.
49. New Mexico is home Sandia Peak Tramway, which is 2.7 miles and the longest aerial tramway in North America.
50. "It Grows as it Goes" or Crescit Eundo is the official motto of New Mexico.
Now if you are sold on New Mexico and on the move, you can search for homes and find valuable real estate information, facts and news here. Let's connect soon and maybe someday New Mexico will have more people than cows.
Thank you for reading and/or commenting on this blog post. The story, research and images all created by Emily Medvec.
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