Walking Where the Other Half Live

I live in Bellevue. Now, for those of you who don’t live in Western Washington this statement might mean nothing to you. (Or it might mean that OTHER Bellevue in New York... I assure you - though I might *belong* there - I don’t live in that Bellevue.) When I first moved here, that statement meant nothing to me neither; it’s just a city where my tiny apartment happens to be located. It wasn’t until a couple years into living in my place that I learned Bellevue is also the city where some super rich people live as well. They actually live in a teeny tiny community called Medina about 2 miles from my apartment. Medina is home to Bill Gates and a bunch of millionaire+ people.

It's fun to go walking through this community and ogle at the strange things the super-wealthy spend their money on. Walking through Medina can be risky too though, because Medina's police are notorious for stopping and questioning people who don't look like they belong.


This last weekend, I took my life in my hands and took my camera (in the form of my cell phone – I really didn't want to end my walk in the clink by being too obvious with a full-on camera bouncing around my neck) on my walk through this wealthiest of wealthy neighborhoods. I want to show you some of the crazy and eclectic things I see as I walk down this one particular street. The lack of cohesion between the different houses seems mind-boggling to me.


Also, I apologize in advance for the blurriness of some of these photos... I was trying to be stealthy and sometimes I'd move before the camera was done with the exposure.

First up: Topiary Paradise:

I wish I cold have taken this picture from a better angle. This house's garden truly looked like a manicured garden straight from the grounds at Disneyland (minus the animal-shaped topiaries). Probably the only time I wished I had a rhododendron so I could shape it like a tiny tree. They were beautiful in full bloom. Mad props to their gardener.

Next: The only two actual retail locations in the entire mini-city of Medina:

The bottom floor of the green building was for lease for a while a couple years ago and I dreamed of opening a breakfast place in it.

Here's a close-up of the mural on the side of the Post Office:

This house reminded me of some place you'd see in Laguna. I think it's the gate on the front and the glass blocks. But I kept expecting to hear the ocean every time I looked at it.

Right next door to Laguna house:

We enter the forest. I'm not normally fond of dark wood on houses, but I really like this one.



A little bit further down the road, we find what I like to call The Castle. I really wish they would have gone all the way and put in a moat and drawbridge.

A really blurry side view of The Castle.

The Castle's next door neighbor: The Italian Villa.

Now, I feel I need to mention that all the pictures thus far come from the non-lake side of the street. The 'poor' side, if you will. They have no gates, no cameras, no keypads, and no 12 foot high, 4 foot thick shrubs protecting them from prying eyes like mine. I'm pretty sure Bill lives on the lake side where most of the drives look like this:

Or this:

The lake side also likes to know what time it is, apparently. Or maybe it's just this one particular house:

Though, some of the houses do like showing off. Take this angular beauty for example:

My favorite from the lake side (from what I can see, anyway) is definitely this one:

Dude, if you're gonna have a gate, at least make it a fun one. In case you're wondering, no, that is not a park but someone's front yard.

Yes, it's fun to walk through Medina and marvel at how the other half (or maybe it's more like 10%?) live. You also have to wonder, though, what are they hiding behind those gigantic barriers? And then I spotted these creepy little chairs huddled on the other side of a fence and I figured I was better off not knowing after all.

Walking on Maui

Can I just say how muscular and skinny I would be if I lived on Maui? For one thing: beautiful fresh fruit year round and not all restaurants are veggie-friendly so I'd be cooking more. For another: lovely walking weather - even when it's raining!

My plan before going to Maui was to get up early every morning and do at least an hour walk before the days activities got under way. I also wanted to do some hiking as I'd heard the landscape is spectacular. The first two days I did really well: 4.2 miles on Day 1 and 2.2 miles on Day 2.

The first day, I took my brother with me as we'd both been up for hours by 6am (still adjusting to the 3-hour time shift). By the end of the first half-mile, I think he had a better appreciation for the kind of walking I do... Well, that and the boy only brought wool socks with him, so he was wearing shoes without socks because it was about 70 when we started walking. I left him sitting on the beach and continued my walk. I had forgotten how humid beach areas were, so I worked up quite a sweat on my 4-mile walk. I didn't mind, though, because I was walking next to the beach where I could hear waves crashing and birds chirping. The sun wasn't over the tops of the mountains yet, so the whole world had a kind of muted beauty to it. Here's my route:

By the time I made it back to the resort, I was smiling, loose, and ready to take on the day. It does a body good to breathe deeply fresh salt air first thing in the morning.

My second day's walk was limited to only half an hour as we'd decided to go out to breakfast at this place that was notorious for lines forming half and hour before it opens. Oh, Gazebo, how you wooed me with your banana and pineapple pancakes!

What I find amusing about these maps is it looks like I'm staying in a dirt field. I swear, there's actually a resort there! That day, my brother, dad, and I went hiking in the Iao Valley as well, so I didn't feel too guilty about cutting my walk short. The hike was beautiful and apparently we really lucked out as the valley is known to have rainy weather a lot of the time.

The next day, I woke up stiff and sore from our hike. I knew I wasn't in the best of shape, but I didn't expect my legs to actually scream at me after only an hour's hike. I decided to give my legs a rest that morning because I knew my brother and I were going to be driving around the top part of the island that day and I planned on throwing in a couple impromptu small hiking excursions along the way. The drive was beautiful and the scenery was dramatic. High cliffs, crashing waves, sudden lush valleys, cattle-country, and volcanic craters.

That afternoon, I became ill and had to take a day to recuperate before I could go on any strenuous excursions. I sat by the pool and read a lot.

My brother and I decided to take a drive and hike out past Makena on a trail called The King's Highway. I had never understood what lava rock was until we hiked on it for a couple miles. The landscape was so foreign, we could have been walking on Mars.

(Well, Mars with an extensive ocean, anyway.) The photos don't do the place justice. Next time I am out there, I will need to spend more time and try to capture the place. Iao was pretty, but the lava field was by far my favorite place this trip.

Our final full day on Maui, I did get another morning walk in. It rained during my walk, but 75 and rainy? Totally okay with me! It actually felt nice to have cool raindrops hit my sweaty face as I listened to the birds and waves battle for dominance in my ears.

I seem to be averaging 4.15/hour right now. Not too shabby for having only started training.


I didn't get to walk nearly as much as I'd planned, but all in all I'm proud that I got out there and did it the days I could. Like I said, I would be one in-shape chick if I could live there!