Gates’ House Best Seen While On A Water Tour
Q. On a trip to Seattle this summer, we would like to see the large home that Bill Gates, Microsoft’s founder, is building. Can we see it from the street?
A. From George Vanderbilt’s Biltmore Estate in Asheville, N.C., to William Randolph Hearst’s castle in San Simeon, Calif., the homes of America’s rich have long fascinated travelers. But there’s no reason to bother Gates’s neighbors if you want to gawk at his 45,000-square-foot house, which is estimated to have cost as much as $50 million. It’s not clearly visible from the street, and is best seen from the water.
The house is on Lake Washington, built into a hillside on a five-acre tract in Medina, not far from Microsoft’s Redmond, Wash., headquarters. The exterior makes extensive use of local timber and stone, and the 20-car garage is covered in sod from the Cascades and surrounded by Northwest alders.
Argosy Cruises operates two sightseeing excursions onto the lake that offer waterside views of the Gates mansion. The narration is live, not taped, and passengers may ask questions, like how many windows does the house have? (Hint: not 95.)
One choice is a 90-minute cruise that departs daily from Kirkland - on the eastern shore, opposite Seattle - May 1 to Sept. 30. Besides the Gates home, you will see other luxurious waterfront homes on the pine-encircled lake and, in the distance, Mount Rainier. The captain on this cruise, Brock Gilman, has been invited onto the construction site, where he was able to learn more details about the Gates house.
The other choice is to leave from Chandler’s Cove in downtown Seattle on a two-hour cruise that also takes you past the Lake Union houseboat district and Portage Bay, home of the University of Washington.
Contact Argosy Cruises at (206) 623-4252 or via the Internet at http:/ /www.argosycruises.com.
Q. I am planning a trip to Kenya, and possibly Tanzania as well, and I will probably go in November or December. Will there be a great number of animals to see in the Masai Mara, in southern Kenya, at that time of year? And am I correct in understanding that the animals migrate from the Serengeti in Tanzania, on the border with Kenya, into the Masai Mara at this time?
A. Richard Lattis, vice president and director for Conservation Centers with the Wildlife Conservation Society (the group that operates what is best known as the Bronx Zoo), says that November and December are excellent months for game-spotting in the Masai Mara National Reserve. You should see all the stars of the wildlife pantheon, including elephant, rhino, lions and wildebeest.
As for the wildebeest, you’ll miss their major north-south migrations, in which millions of these animals move in search of lush grass, but you could still see some smaller herd movements.