hot springs

Yeah, parts of the US are still a wilderness. And snow tires are required if you're traveling.

There's some real nice places thereabouts. The Rogue River valley. Lots of hot springs.

One place I remember, a mile hike from the road. Bathtub sized basins etched into a side of a ravine by the sulfur. Beautiful view. Isolated. A local plumber comes, scruffy, with a six-pack and a beer belly, strips all the way down and bends over to adjust the waterflow, his wrench and nuts to the world. At that moment a tourist family comes off the trail, with young children, sees the sight full-on, flushes in embarassment, does a perfunctory (and swimsuitted) dip, scuttles away.