Well, we stayed in Ruidoso several years back - HIGH on one of the mountaintop timeshares (not far from the WalMart) - actually it's kind of a small town so nothing is that far from the WalMart!! It was kind of cool. They told us not to put our garbage out on the patio and at 1 in the morning we were awakened by raccoons checking out the patio! We went to the horse museum and thought it was fun. At the time I think there was a fun park nearby -it provided some entertainment for our teenagers (I hear it's a blast in the winter). We also went to Carlsbad Caverns. What I remember was a long drive with not much in between. The area was hit pretty hard by wildfire last year. While I appreciate the contributions bats make, unless you are there when they leave or come back I wasn't too excited but it was on the way back (kind of) home and something that should be seen once - if you are in the area.