After attending one of four annual intern barbecues hosted by Gates in Medina, WA, Smith related his experiences on the Embedded team's MSDN blog. "Going down Bill's driveway is like arriving at Jurassic Park," he writes. "We passed a 15-20 car garage on the way down, though I'm not sure if it was Bill's private one or not as I didn't see any really cool cars in it."
Satellite view of the Gates compound
(Click to enlarge; Source: Microsoft Live Maps)Following an airport-style screening for forbidden items such as cell phones, pens, or cameras, attendees took shuttles to the main house, then headed down a "5-ish story" staircase to a reception area. "We passed his movie theater (complete with Now Showing posters) and a room that looked to be completely filled with couches and pillows. Its all really nice," writes Smith.
"We were pretty much given free roam of the place, so we checked out his dock, his beach (with sand imported from Hawaii), hot tub, and boat," Smith adds. "We also saw the indoor / outdoor pool that has an underwater grate that allows you to swim between the two sections."
Smith describes his luck in being right where Gates happened to walk down the stairs: "So there I stood, about a foot away from Bill for about an hour. Bill answered an unending barrage of questions from us."
"At one point, one of Bill's daughters came down and braved the 'donut,'" Smith adds. "She got asked if she liked any Xbox games. Apparently she and Bill like to play some of the Xbox Live Arcade games together, especially Zuma."
The visit ended with Gates giving a quick talk about his vision for Microsoft and for the Gates Foundation, and thanking the interns for their hard work.
"Before we knew it, we got the word that it was last call for the buses back to the Microsoft campus," writes Smith. My first reaction was, 'Last call? There was a first call?' So, we headed back through the house (man those stairs are a long way up) and back home."
To view the Gates home via Microsoft Live Maps, click
here (may require browser plug-in). To read Robert Smith's complete blog posting, click
here.
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