If you rent a car in Santa Fe, take a ride over to Bandelier National Monument. It has very interesting Native American dwellings, carved into the rock of the mountainside. Some nice fairly easy hiking trails.

Ballarat, looks good so far! Have a lovely Christmas. :)

It does look great. Do you mind sharing your hotel budget? It would make it easier for people wanting to make suggestions.

Thanks emalloy we will do that.
sf7307 regarding budgeting for accommodation it depends on where and what. So we usually accept 3star and like to spend from $100 to $120 per night. We hope for free wifi and breakfast included. We averaged $100 in Italy last year. We are not averse to b&b but have not done that since Ireland some years ago and enjoyed it. I am currently considering a b&b in Lexington MA for a week.

I have no idea whether short-term rentals are legal there or not, but if you're going to stay a whole week, you might want to consider renting an apartment, on vrbo.com or homeaway.com.