I grew up in New Mexico. It is special for me even though I really haven’t been back. Did you know? That New Mexico was 90% Mexican and 90% of the people there spoke no English when it became a state? That those people were all farmers and ranchers, there was no other industry. They were all Catholic, obviously and the church in Santa Fe is IIRC the oldest in the Western Hemisphere. You should really see the spiral staircase.
Did you know? That it was chosen for it’s isolation and isolated population for the Manhattan Project (of course you did). That because of that project and BLM/National Forest management that the Federal Government has been the largest employer in the state since the state was just a couple decades old. To this day I would bet that is the case. So look at New Mexico by County. Counties where industry is the largest employer vote GOP. Counties where the Fed Gov is the largest employer vote Rat.
Did you know? That water is the limiting resource everywhere but in Arizona and New Mexico it is particularly relevant. The central portion of the state is geologically a large Rift Valley filled with rubble. There is water down there but New Mexicans have been pumping it up for decades at well above replacement rates. IOW New Mexico CAN”T grow. In fact, it probably can’t hold the population it has.
The town I grew up in is beginning to have dangerous sink holes from pumping huge volumes of water up for industry. Industry that doesn’t exist anymore. Because the water became a problem.
Lots of interesting things one can learn about New Mexico.
I love Taos and the ring of fire area
The spiral staircase would be Loretto Chapel. Astonishing story of how that stair case came to be.
I like NM and travel through there regularly. It truly is enchanting in many areas. Angel Fire is beautiful as is Red River.
Not to mention that New Mexico has some of the finest Mexican food I have eaten anywhere. Los Cuates on East Lomas in Albq. is exceptional - and very spicy.