Twin Falls Again Suffers from Boise's Long Media Shadow

Boise is a bigger city with an inferior river. Twin Falls is a smaller city with a superior river. Worldatlas.com just placed Boise among the prettiest river towns in America. Now, normally, I give these rankings a pass. The writers have often never visited any of the places cited and they certainly don’t visit smaller cities, however. When it comes to waterfalls, these travel authors are all aware of Shoshone Falls. So, they should know about our river view.

Do you need a population in excess of 100,000 to qualify as pretty?

I recall a visit I made a few years ago to Idaho Falls. I dropped by the Celt Pub for lunch. The owner is Lt. Governor Janice McGeachin. As I was eating I told her downtown Idaho Falls was much nicer than I expected (there is a beautiful downtown park). I got a look like I must be blind (I’m just terribly myopic). “But you have a canyon,” she replied.

For that matter, why isn’t Swan Valley on the list of best river towns? Do you need a population in excess of 100,000 to qualify as pretty? Swan Valley may have a couple of hundred people total. It doesn’t make it ugly. It’s one of the most breathtaking places I’ve ever been.

Really, what I think is going on here is possibly pay-for-play. Some of these magazines and websites are funded by various chambers of commerce. Not that I find anything wrong about that. I like looking at pictures of other places and wouldn’t mind visiting all of them.

It’s just that parachuting into one town in one state and then leaving is also myopic. I’ve taken nearly 10,000 pictures of Idaho and sites in neighboring states in just under seven years. I was talking with a buddy the other day. He’s from Wyoming. I told him I’ve no need to go thousands of miles away. Everything I really want to see is between Minot and Crater Lake. And every small town in between.

LOOK: Here are the 50 best beach towns in America

Every beach town has its share of pluses and minuses, which got us thinking about what makes a beach town the best one to live in. To find out, Stacker consulted data from WalletHub, released June 17, 2020, that compares U.S. beach towns. Ratings are based on six categories: affordability, weather, safety, economy, education and health, and quality of life. The cities ranged in population from 10,000 to 150,000, but they had to have at least one local beach listed on TripAdvisor. Read the full methodology here. From those rankings, we selected the top 50. Readers who live in California and Florida will be unsurprised to learn that many of towns featured here are in one of those two states.

Keep reading to see if your favorite beach town made the cut.

LOOK: Here is the richest town in each state

Just saying the names of these towns immediately conjures up images of grand mansions, luxury cars, and ritzy restaurants. Read on to see which town in your home state took the title of the richest location and which place had the highest median income in the country. Who knows—your hometown might even be on this list.

How Many in America: From Guns to Ghost Towns

Can you take a guess as to how many public schools are in the U.S.? Do you have any clue as to how many billionaires might be residing there? Read on to find out—and learn a thing or two about each of these selection’s cultural significance and legacy along the way.