26 More New Mexico Fun Facts You Don’t Already Know

Posted on by Emily Rokke
Category: Food Facts,Fun Facts,Weird Places
  • Or maybe you do know these New Mexico facts?

Have you read 26 New Mexico Fun Facts You Don’t Already Know? Cause this is part two.

  1. The world record for the largest enchilada was created at the “Whole Enchilada Fiesta” in Las Cruces.
  2. New Mexico is the oldest capital city in the United States.
  3. Felix Baumgartner became the first human to break the sound barrier without engine powered assistance in New Mexican airspace while trying to achieve the “world’s longest skydive.”
  4. More chili peppers come from New Mexico than all other states combined.
  5. Gallup, New Mexico holds the world record for the world’s largest Navajo taco, with more than 30 pounds of green chilli.
  6. New Mexico was only the 47th state to join the country.
  7. The site called Trinity Site had the first atomic bomb set off near Alamogordo in 1945.
  8. The ski lifts of Sandia Mountains are 7,500 feet long, one of the longest in the world.
  9. There are about 1,000 official reports of UFOs that come out of New Mexico every year.
  10. Philmont Scout Ranch accommodates 18,000 scouts every year and is the world’s largest camping facility.
  11. Albuquerque has more than 300 local hot air balloons, with more than any other city  making it the hot air balloon capital of America. 
  12. Las Vegas, New Mexico was the largest city within the state 100 years ago and is still home to the country’s oldest functioning well called the Hay Springs Well.
  13. Some living areas in  Taos Pueblo, N.M. are over 900 years old, making it one of the oldest continuously inhabited areas of America
  14. New Mexican laws, “idiots” are not allowed to vote.
  15. There are only 250 square miles of surface water in the state.
  16. More uranium came from Grants than anywhere else in America during 20th century wars, giving it the name “uranium capital of the world.”
  17. Santa Fe’s Governor’s Palace is the oldest government building in the United States.
  18. White Sands National Monument is white gypsum crystals, not sand.
  19. The actor who plays the womanizing Barney Stinson, Neil Patrick Harris, is from Albuquerque.
  20. New Mexico has more Ph.D.s per capita than any other state, highly due to the many government and private research facilities in the state.
  21. The first town in New Mexico was Elizabethtown and has since become a ghost town in Colfax County.
  22. Carlsbad Caverns are so huge that one chamber alone stretches over 3,000 feet and as tall as 22 stories. 
  23. New Mexico, as Santa Fe is 7,000 feet above sea level, making it the nation’s highest capital city.
  24. New Mexico’s highest peak is Wheeler Peak at 13,000.
  25. Edwin H. Land, of New Mexico was the inventor of Polaroid.
  26. About 75% of the roads in New Mexico aren’t paved. Roads are sparsely traveled and there’s not enough precipitation to make them disappear.

What’s the coolest thing you learned about New Mexico?