Impulsive - If you make it out to Silver City any time soon, let me know if you have any questions! Karacticus - looks like he lives out towards Hillsboro? Beautiful area but definitely remote.
I live in Silver City, which is in the southwest portion of the state. We haven't done a whole lot of touristy stuff in the 3 years we've been here though - funny how that is. When we were in AZ we never went to visit the Grand Canyon either - I guess touristy isn't my thing.
Most of my exploring has been in the national forests and state/BLM land - there is SO much to explore, it's insane and strange compared to other areas of the country where almost all of the state is private land (Looking at you, Texas). I spend lots of time exploring old mine sites and just general 4-wheeling in the Gila wilderness, between Silver City and Reserve.
If I had a week or so to explore, I would spend part of the time in Santa Fe/Taos checking out the historical/artsy areas. There are Native American Pueblos that are interesting, and the Gorge outside of Taos. I could see a day or two in Taos, and then another day or two in Santa Fe. We did the Sandia tram above Albuquerque and enjoyed it; most of ABQ doesn't really appeal to me though. If you do Roswell you may as well head down to Carlsbad while in that corner of the state, and cover White Sands while you're down there. Get used to measuring driving distances in hours instead of miles!
Finding rust free cars is fun, if you're up for an adventure! These are probably road worthy enough to get you back home...
http://santafe.craigslist.org/cto/5892510812.html http://albuquerque.craigslist.org/cto/5864416673.html http://albuquerque.craigslist.org/cto/5878645280.html
