U.S.A. - New Mexico - State Capitol

NEW MEXICO STATE CAPITOL
SANTA FE, NEW MEXICO
The New Mexico State Capitol, known as the Roundhouse, is the only round capitol building in the country.  The building was designed to resemblethe Zia Sun Symbol when viewed from above, with four entrance wings that protrude from the main cylindrical volume.

Sent by Jennifer from Santa Fe, New Mexico.

U.S.A. - New Mexico - Santa Fe

SANTA FE
NEW MEXICO
"Oldest Capital City in the United States" is Santa Fe's claim.  The second oldest city in the U.S.,Santa Fe was settled in 1607 by the Spanish (13 years before the Pilgrims landed at Plymouth Rock!).  Home to the Palace of the Governors, built in 1610, it is said to be the oldest continously occupied building in the United States. Santa Fe is the Southwest at its best.  From authentic Southwestern pottery to adobe buildings, to spicy chili peppers, this town has something for every one.

Sent by Jennifer from Santa Fe, USA.

Santa Fe (/ˌsæntəˈfeɪ/; (Tewa: Ogha Po'oge, Navajo: Yootó)) is the capital of the United States state of New Mexico. It is the fourth-largest city in the state and is the seat of Santa Fe County. Santa Fe is also the oldest capital city in the United States. Santa Fe (meaning “holy faith” in Spanish) had a population of 69,204 in 2012. It is the principal city of a Metropolitan Statistical Area which encompasses all of Santa Fe County and is part of the larger Albuquerque-Santa Fe-Las Vegas Combined Statistical Area. The city’s full name when founded was La Villa Real de la Santa Fé de San Francisco de Asís (“The Royal Town of the Holy Faith of St. Francis of Assisi”). (read further)

USA - New Mexico - Mapcard (2)

NEW MEXICO
LAND OF ENCHANTMENT

Sent by Erin, a postcrosser from USA.

USA - New Mexico - Carlsbad Caverns National Park

CARLSBAD CAVERNS NATIONAL PARK
NEW MEXICO
Carlsbad Caverns National Park contains 113 of more than 300 caves that can be found beneath the surface of the Chihuahuan Desert and Guadalupe Mountains of the southeastern New Mexico and west Texas.

Sent by Robyn from New Mexico, USA.

The park covers a segment of the Permian fossil Capitan Reef.

An extensive cave system has developed within the reef as a result of sulphuric acid dissolution and of the 81 known caves, Carlsbad Cavern is the largest and Lechuguilla Cave is the most extensive and decorated cave in the world.

The Capitan Reef complex dates back to the Permian period, some 280-225 million years ago. The exposed sections of this reef lying within the park are among the best preserved in the world accessible for scientific study. Geologists are able to study the rock formations not only through cave passages which penetrate the reef but also in exposures uncovered through erosion. Fossils include bryozoans, pelecypods, gastropods, echinoderms, brachiopods, fusulinds, sponges, trilobites and algae. Above-ground vegetation communities range from desert to coniferous forest. Some 800 plant species have been identified, of which three are internationally threatened: Sneed pincushion cactus, Lee pincushion cactus and Lloyd's hedgehog cactus. The fauna inventory includes 64 mammals, 331 bird and 44 herpetofauna species.

The caves are noted for their migratory bat species, especially the Mexican free-tailed bat. Various species of fungi and bacteria growing in the caves are of particular scientific and medical interest.

Disturbances within the park include permanent damage incurred to speleothems and the cave ecosystem from tourism, decline in bat populations from the use of DDT as well as attempts to eradicate them in Mexico, oil and gas exploration, grazing by trespassing livestock, invasion by exotic fauna and the hunting of puma.

Carlsbad is radically different from the other existing World Heritage caves: Carlsbad Caverns National Park is distinguished by its huge chambers which are far larger than similar other as well as for its decorative mineral.

Since its initial exploration in 1985, Lechuguilla Cave has been strictly managed, allowing only closely monitored visits by researchers. This cave is particularly noteworthy as an underground laboratory where geological processes can be studied in a virtually undisturbed environment. The only threat that faces the park is oil and gas exploration near its borders. (Source)

USA - New Mexico - State Bird

ROADRUNNER
NEW MEXICO
The Geococcyx californiacus, commonly known as the Roadrunner, is a speedy member of the cuckoo family and New Mexico's state bird.

Sent by Robyn from New Mexico, USA.

"The roadrunner was designated the official state bird of New Mexico in 1949. Also called the chaparral bird, the roadrunner (Geococcyx californianus) inhabits desert and shrubby country in the southwestern United States and northern Mexico.

Although a roadrunner is capable of flight, it spends most of the time on the ground, running at speeds of 15 miles per hour (or more) to catch its prey (insects, small reptiles, rodents, tarantulas, scorpions and small birds). The Hopi and Pueblo Indian tribes believed that the roadrunner provided protection against evil spirits."(Source)

USA - New Mexico - Mapcard (1)

NEW MEXICO - LAND OF ENCHANTMENT
STATE CAPITAL : Santa Fe
STATE FLOWER : Yucca
STATE BIRD : Roadrunner
STATE TREE : Pinon Pine
RANK BY ENTRY : 47th
RANK BY SIZE : 5th
AREA (Sq. Miles) : 121,666
ADMITTED TO STATEHOOD : 1-6-1912
STATE SONG : O, Fair New Mexico
MOTTO : Crescit Eundo (It Grows As It Goes)
HIGHEST ELEVATION : Wheeler Peak (13,161 ft)
LOWEST ELEVATION : Red Bluff Reservoir (2,817 ft)

Sent by Dorothy, a WiP partner from New Mexico, USA.

USA - New Mexico - Pueblo Bonito

Pueblo Bonito from the Overlook, Chaco Culture N.H.P., New Mexico.
The largest and best known of Chaco's great houses is Pueblo Bonito. It was occupied from the early A.D. 900s to about 1200. Built in stages, this pueblo in its final form contained nearly 600 rooms, 40 kivas and rose four stories high.

Sent by Jeff from Michigan, USA. Thanks Jeff for the beautiful stamps.

This is from Wikipedia : Pueblo Bonito, the largest and best known Great House in Chaco Culture National Historical Park, northern New Mexico, was built by ancestral Pueblo people and occupied between AD 828 and 1126.

In January, 1941, a section of the canyon wall known as Threatening Rock, or tse biyaa anii'ahi (leaning rock gap) in Navajo, collapsed, destroying some of the structure's rear wall and a number of rooms. The builders of Pueblo Bonito appear to have been well aware of this threat. However, they chose to build beneath the fractured stone, which stood 97 feet (30 m) high and weighed approximately 30,000 tons, and compensated by building a structural reinforcement for the slab.

In 2009, it was reported that traces of cacao from, at the nearest, 1,200 miles (1,900 km) away in Mexico, were detected in pottery shards at Pueblo Bonito. This was the first demonstration that cacao, important in rituals, had been brought into the area that became the United States at any time before the Spanish arrived around 1500. Cylindrical pottery jars, common in Central America, had previously been found, but are rare. At Pueblo Bonito, 111 jars had been found in one of the 800 or so rooms of the pueblo.