Personal Challenge 2018 - Week 47

This is the 47th week of my personal 50-week States of the Union Challenge. Each week I research one of the 50 United States (in the order they attained statehood). I share tidbits of information about the state here on my blog and I create a card that is inspired by something about that state.

This week's state (the 47th one to attain statehood) is...

New Mexico

Date of Statehood: January 6, 1912

New Mexico is the 5th largest state in the United States of America, but it is the 36th most populous state.

The lowest temperature ever recorded in New Mexico was -50 degrees, while the highest was 122, making it one of the largest ranges in any state.

With the lowest water to land area of any of the U.S. states, New Mexico's lakes and rivers account for just .002% of the state's surface area. Though the total area of New Mexico is relatively large at 121,665 square miles, it only has 250 square miles of surface water.

In 1607, roughly 13 years before the pilgrims landed on Plymouth Rock, Santa Fe was founded, making it the second oldest town in current day America. It was originally founded as La Villa Real de la Santa Fe de San Francisco de Asis, but its name was changed in 1610.

The Mile High City, Denver, has nothing on New Mexico, as Santa Fe is 7,000 feet above sea level, making it the nation’s highest capital. The highest point in New Mexico is Wheeler Peak at 13,000.

At over 8,000 feet, the Capulin Volcano is so tall that five states can be seen from the top: New Mexico, Colorado, Kansas, Oklahoma, and Texas.

For at least 1,000 years, the people of Taos Pueblo have lived in their surreal, multi-story-apartment-like town. Human habitation of the area dates back perhaps 5,000 years, but it wasn’t until around 1,000 AD that the current adobe dwellings were constructed by two different groups of Tiwa peoples who came together to build the still-thriving community.

New Mexico has more PhDs per capita than any other state.

One out of every three families in New Mexico speaks Spanish as well as English.

On July 16, 1945, the very first atomic bomb was detonated in the desert sands of the Jornada del Muerto in south-central New Mexico. Known by its code name, Trinity, it was of the same design as the bomb dropped on Nagasaki, Japan, a few weeks later. The Trinity Site is located on the White Sands Missile Range and is now a National Historic Site.

Smokey Bear was invented in New Mexico after the Capitan Gap fire of 1950, which burned 17,000 acres of land.

About 75% of New Mexico’s roads are unpaved.

New Mexico has more cows than people.

More chili peppers are born in New Mexico than all other states combined.

Albuquerque has more than 300 local hot air balloons, making it the hot air balloon capital of America with more than any other city.

Due to its explicit nature, roughly 400 words were ordered to be removed from Shakespeare’s “Romeo and Juliet” by New Mexico Officials.

According to the New Mexican constitution, “idiots” are not allowed to vote. They don’t really give a clear definition of who gets included in that definition.

It is illegal to provide glue, spray paint, permanent marker, or paint to a child without a parent's consent.

You can’t legally dance while wearing your sombrero.

You can be arrested for spitting in public in New Mexico.

It's against the law to throw something onto the field during a athletic event.

It is against the law to trip a horse.

Women cannot legally pump their own gas or change a flat tire in New Mexico.

It is against the law to carry a lunchbox down Main Street in Las Cruces, New Mexico.

I decided to go with this bit of New Mexico information for my card's inspiration... Averaging roughly 12 people per square mile, the people of New Mexico are greatly outnumbered by the livestock in their state.

You can see I'm still decorating the insides of my cards - always!

Thanks for stopping by my blog today!

Stamp: Inky Antics Farm Friends #1 stamped with Memento Tuxedo Black Ink and colored with Copic Markers

Papers: Recollections Black and 110# White and SU Certainly Celery CS and DP from my scrap file

Embellishments: SU Ribbon and Brads from an unknown vendor