Visit a reconstructed Pioneer Museum, carefully rendered as it would have been historically, then explore the history of Cloudcroft through a series of exhibits. Stop by the chapel while you're here . . . and if you have a special event to plan in Cloudcroft, the chapel is a very scenic place to situate it.

The Shuler Theater is a gorgeous old building with mural-painted ceilings and backdrops. You can tour the building or attend a performance, performances highlighted by the architecture.

Spaceport America is the future home for Virgin Galactic and the New Mexico Spaceport Authority. When completed, Spaceport America will be the first purpose-built commercial spaceport in the world. While under construction, Spaceport America is not open to the public. Interested members of the public are invited to sign up for "hard hat tours" that are taking place weekly.

This is a free zoo and many of the animals are local species, from desert creatures like the roadrunner to more foresty creatures like the black bear, but there are exotic animals, too. Bring a lunch and ride the train and carousel while you're exploring.

Sunray Park and Casino isn't only a place to gamble, although gambling is certainly one of its big draws. Check out a horse race, or some weekend musical entertainment. You can get some great food here as well.

Taos Pueblo was built over a thousand years ago, before Columbus, before the end of the Dark Ages, before the western world knew the American continents even existed. Taos has been continually inhabited for the past millennium and about 150 people live in the Pueblo community year-round. Taos Pueblo is open to visitors for tours, arts and traditional crafts.

Famous celebrity photos share space with local art, and rotate out for new exhibits. The Old Pass Gallery is not only a gallery and gift shop, but a community center that hosts monthly art shows.

The Toy Train Depot Museum houses the smallest working train on earth, and, of course, you can ride it! The train takes a trip around Alameda Park every half hour, but this isn't everything to see here. Check out the hundreds of model trains.

The Theater Ensemble Arts sometimes abbreviates themselves as TEA-Time Productions, which reflects their good-natured performances. In their middle production each year, the community's youth join right in, but don't think that they suffer for it. This is good-natured, but classy stuff.

You'll find plenty of museums with slick, static exhibits that depict this or that historical event with well-prepared dioramas. The Tucumcari Historical Museum is unique . . . it's a bit more like an attic of lots and lots of cool stuff you can sift through for hours, from ancient Native American artifacts to bootleg stills to . . . interesting cow-patties!