Western USA

Wyoming

At Lee and Florence's

To get to Yellowstone from BANFF, we had two options: the direct route, 9.5 hours of driving, or a slower one, 11.5 hours.
Our experience on the Canadian Prairies (2,200 miles in 4 days, no less!) has taught us a lesson. We'll take the pretty route (11.5 hours, about 680 miles), but over 3 days!

First stop: Bigfork, a little town on the shore of Flathead Lake. We're thrilled to discover that the campground we'd picked is, once again... full!
No matter, we spotted a nice marina a few miles back. U-turn, here we go!
The thing is, there's no public shoreline law here. The whole waterfront is private. And our nice marina turns out to be a very private marina. Nobody gets in without a membership card.

That's when Mag swings into action. We've stopped in front of a gorgeous lakefront house. Without a second thought, she heads for the doorbell. In under 5 minutes, Florence has opened the door and offered to let us park in her driveway (with a direct view of the lake, if you please)!
I've barely finished parking when Lee, her husband, pulls up. He welcomes us just as warmly. "If you need water or electricity, no problem!"
We're delighted. They even offer us the Jet Skis sitting in the yard (yes, really, I'm not kidding), but we don't want to take advantage.
At 8 p.m., Florence comes to get us and tells us Lee is waiting. He's just taken his boat out of the marina, tied it up at the private dock at the end of the yard, and is offering to show us the lake under a "Wonderful Sunset".
For our first evening in the western US, we get a welcome you could never imagine in France!
The next morning, we make the most of their private beach to get in shape before hitting the road again.
Thank you, Lee and Florence! Welcome to America!