STORY AND PHOTO BY KAREN BOSSICK

Seems like Sun Valley and Ketchum are always winding up on one list or another.

One of the latest is Architectural Digest’s “55 Most Beautiful Small Towns in America” list.

Ketchum was high up in the list of 55, along with McCall.

“In the heart of Idaho’s Sun Valley, this town is an outdoors utopia, with snow sports, fishing, rock-climbing, and more. Four gorgeous alfresco hot springs are nearby and open for soaking,” wrote reviewers.

In choosing McCall, the magazine noted the town’s year-round outdoor activities ranging from fly  fishing to cross country skiing, as well as its Annual Winter Carnival and sled-dog race.

Other towns on the list included Decorah, Iowa, known for the nation’s largest Norwegian-American Museum; Cape May, N.J., known for the Victorian gingerbread homes that hug Delaware Bay; St. Francisville, La., the home of several 1800s plantations; Galena, Ill, which sits on the bluffs of the Mississippi River, and Leadville, Colo., the nation’s highest-elevation incorporated city.

Also, Deadwood, S.D., the Black Hills’ town where life on Main Street seems to stand still; Chimayo, N.M., an artsy town with an important Catholic pilgrimage each Easter; Carmel-by-the-Sea, Calif., with its stunning cliffs, cypress trees and Spanish Mission-style downtown, and Kennebunkport, Maine, a playground for such families as the Bushes and the Kennedys.

To see more visit https://www.architecturaldigest.com/gallery/most-beautiful-small-towns-in-america