Yes, on this day, 100 years ago, (January 6th, 1912) President Taft signed the proclamation making New Mexico the 47th state of the Union & the U.S. added a brand new star.
As I travel around, folks who’ve visited our 5th largest state are quick to tell me how surprised they were at the beauty, expanse & vastness of the land. They want to tell me about the snow capped peaks and the incredible sunrises and sunsets. And of course the food! Many will tell of visiting our villages with unpaved streets, adobe buildings and churches built in the 1700’s. Yes, we have places here that time has forgotten & yet the Atom bomb was developed in our state and we even have a spaceport!
On a humorous note, it never ceases to amaze me, how many folks still ask; “New Mexico, where’s that?” One fellow I invited for a visit said “I’d love to come out if I can get my passport renewed.”
A lady at dinner one night exclaimed, “New Mexico? You live in New Mexico?”
“Yes”, I answered a bit surprised, “Why?”
“Well,” she said, “You speak excellent English!”
To that I just smiled and said, “Well, I was educated in the U.S.”
So happy birthday New Mexico and may you continue to be overlooked and slow to be discovered but as enchanting as ever. Out here we like our skyline uncluttered and our neighbors scattered out a bit. Here’s to your next 100 years!
I guess we missed this one! Happy birthday to the “Land of Enchantment”! We too have seen the beauty of your state in just about every corner. The last time we where there we entered two different places. The far NE corner we entered by SH456 west of Kenton, Ok. and by the way we can see all kinds of reasons why R.W. wrote Long Canyon Christmas seeing that river break country up there. Later we came out of south central Colorado and drove into Red River, Taos and Tres Piedras before heading back north. I’ve loved your state since one of my (jay) favorite trips as a youngster (about 1975). We left Oklahoma and headed over to your neck of the woods and ended up at Philmont. (older brother had been there in ’74 on a trip). Stayed the night in Red River and headed north to Cananda the next day. Anyway, thanks for letting us know about the birthday and blessing to you and your family.