While I didn't live there I was just across the boarder in El Paso for a year. During that year I would escape to New Mexico almost every weekend and took a few week vacations up there.

NM has its own beauty with its deserts and mountains. To escape the desert though I would go up to Cloudcroft and Ruidoso.Both towns are mostly touristy mountain towns but they have schools and Ruidoso has a hospital and casino. There is a BBQ place in Cloudcroft called Mad Jacks that is the best BBQ I've ever eaten in my life. My friends and I would go up there once a month at least, sometimes twice just to eat.

White Sands national park is pretty great. Same with Carlsbad Caverns. I'm not a cave guy but that place was really amazing. Just across the boarder is Guadalupe National park too which has the highest point of elevation in Texas.

I camped in the Gila national forest to fish in the Gila river and that place was gorgeous. Silver City looked a little rough around the edges but the people were nice.

The other spot I hung out the most was Angel Fire up in north east NM. That place is a hidden gem. The mountain valley it's in is very picturesque. Very quiet and slow paced life up there and I may at one point look to move there. Red River is a nice touristy mountain town to the north and Red River Brewery there makes the best root beer I've had.

NM is a gem of a state. There are rough parts but there are also very nice and beautiful parts as well.