I third Santa Fe- great food, culture, and art. The jewelry is amazing, and very unique. Great Mexican food!
Colorado Springs is pretty nice, but the traffic is not. Great scenery, hiking, variety of foods, parks, music, historical sites, etc.
Kansas City area and Lawrence KS: GREAT food, beautiful, lots of fountains in KC, major sports teams, great shopping. Lawrence has a great downtown with lots of unique shops and restaurants. It reminds me of my home, Sioux Falls.
I would like to be the first to nominate Sioux Falls, SD: very laid back atmosphere, friendly people, great Native American culture, art and events, the Big Sioux River falls and dells, quartzite quarries, beautiful farmland, county fairs, the RibFest, rodeos, just to name a few.
go ahead, laugh all you like
. But it won't cost you much to have a good time there... and if you happen to score an invitation to dinner with a farm family, be prepared for some good home cooking! If you're lucky it will be steak!