New Mexico is awesome my mother lives just north of the Colorado/New Mexico border in the San Luis Valley, it's some of the best star gazing country because there are no "major" cities near except Alamogordo (which is UFO central if you didn't know). I try to go a different route through NM every time when I drive up from Texas to visit. Ruidoso is a beautiful area. Also there is a ton of BLM public lands to camp and explore for FREEE. Take a daytrip to Roswell, see all the alien stuff and eat McDonald's in a space ship.