Annual Fall Drive 2023

Tony Yang 0 Comments Automotive

Wow, it’s that time of year again where we have our annual Fall drive in northern New Jersey with our friends on some beautiful windy roads with stunning scenery! We started the journey meeting up at Roosters Coffee in Ledgewood, NJ. They’re a brand new coffee shop that has delicious breakfast and coffee served all day. After my 6 shots of espresso, I was ready for a spirited drive through Sussex County towards Delaware Water Gap.

Our route included a road called Shades of Death Road, passing Godlewsky Farms, and stopping at Airport Cafe in Blairstown for a photo break while watching gliders take off and land. Our final destination for lunch was Joe Bosco Authentic Smokehouse BBQ.

We really love that our drives include our significant others and it’s not just a “driver’s only” type of event. There are things to do, places to see, and delicious food all around. It’s a small private event that I love hosting every year, and doing research on new roads during the rest of the year.

Please enjoy the video!

Fall Drive 2022

Tony Yang 0 Comments Automotive

This year I took our Annual Fall Drive back to where we started thirteen years ago at Bear Mountain. Some of the best photos of rolling shots I’ve taken have been on the Palisades Parkway since it’s two lanes bordered by plenty of trees. We started in Fort Lee, NJ up through Palisades Parkway North. We took a scenic Autumn drive through Harriman State Park and over to New York State on Bear Mountain Bridge. Route 202 is an incredibly scenic cliff-side drive over the Hudson River. Our final destination was Bear Mountain Oktoberfest where we chowed down some delicious German wursts and Ukrainian beer Chernigivske!

For the past few years, we’ve been dedicating time to making an official brochure for each car to enjoy as a souvenir and a guide for the day. This year I added a little contest in the brochure and our winner is Austin and Stephanie! Their gift was sponsored by Mercedes Benz of Flemington.

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Turn Your TV Into a Photo Frame

Tony Yang 0 Comments Other

I have been using Amazon FireStick TV’s on all of my TV’s around the house and have always enjoyed the slideshow feature when it was sitting idle. The options for selecting what photos or albums from the FireStick alone was very limited and cumbersome. I previously used my smartphone to upload specific photos to an Amazon Drive photos folder (which by the way is a completely different interface than Amazon Photos). I backup all of my personal and wedding photos onto Amazon Drive because we have unlimited storage. Looking through hundreds if not thousands of folder names through FireStick to find the one folder I want as a slideshow was almost an impossible task which is why I never bothered changing folders once I picked one.

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Fall Drive 2021

Tony Yang 0 Comments Automotive

This year we cruised exciting new roads as well as some awesome fast cars that joined our crew! Our final destination was Dingmans Ferry Bridge, a cute little bridge with an older gentleman literally standing in his work vest in the middle of the two lane bridge collecting two dollars for every car. We love the area where we live, full of farms and home made desserts. One of our favorites is Windy Brow Farms, with their amazing home made ice cream and artisanal breads and baked goods.  The boat ramp after the bridge was a great photo opportunity in Fall. We had our typical BMWs and Porsches, but this year we were joined by a Polestar 1 as well as a new Toyota Supra. We’re not just a German exclusive drive!

BMW Meetup at a Biergarten

Tony Yang 0 Comments Automotive

It was exciting to revisit a taste of Germany at a biergarten in NJ that had a true Bavaria vibe. The latest BMW meetup was at Deutscher Club of Clark, NJ hosted by the New Jersey Chapter BMW Car Club of America. A row of M cars from almost every generation combined with delicious bier and bratwursts does a great night make.

Fall Drive 2020

Tony Yang 0 Comments Automotive

It was an absolutely daunting task planning for our annual Fall drive which includes great scenic drives while making sure to capture as much footage as possible. I requested all the drivers to strap on their GoPros and help me film every angle possible so I could make an epic video after. The coolest and best footage from the drive was from the GoPro Fusion Max 360 camera. I loved just how fun and easy it is to reframe the shots in post processing, never missing a moment. While it takes extra time and patience after the fact to produce a final video with a 360 camera, the effort is totally worth the end result. I’d suggest a 360 camera for everyone! Please enjoy the video!

2020 Fall Foliage Drive

Tony Yang 0 Comments Photography

We have an annual tradition to take a group drive during peak Fall foliage season to enjoy the beautiful scenery and to discover new windy and twisty roads around New Jersey/New York. With all the bad news this year and isolation, it was great to finally be among our friends again outdoors and safely distance in our own cars for an epic drive. Olya and I spent days planning the route, taking test drives with our daily driver, and researching endless possible roads and stops on Google maps to make sure the experience was top notch for everyone.

One of my favorite things about living in Sussex county is the endless windy country roads any direction I drive, without any of the traffic or pot holes I battled with out East in Bergen or Passaic county. It’s a joy to drive every single time. I wanted to make sure our friends really experienced the fun we have living here.

As usual, we packed a trunk full of photo and video gear to document every aspect of the drive. We love getting rolling shots for each car so our friends can have a memorable keepsake of their ride whether they keep it for three years or ten. Not only do we make sure the drive is fun, but also enjoy all the stops along the way. From local farms to breweries, we have them all here! This was also the first year we’ve created a brochure special to our private group drive, hard to top this next year, but I’m already looking forward to it!

Stay tuned for the video!

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Adventures in Bavaria

Tony Yang 0 Comments Vacation

We are hoping all of our friends, families, and lovely couples are having a safe and productive time staying at home, whether you’re catching up on favorite shows, finding new hobbies or learning new skills. We’ve been catching up on editing, especially our back log of travel videos from the past year.

We flew to Ukraine last year for a wedding, and with our points we were able to book a week stopover for free in Germany. We spent our week in Bavaria hopping from lake to lake, drinking radler and eating lots of wursts and pretzels. The water was an incredible turquoise blue situated in front of the magnificent snow capped Alps. It felt like we were always in front of a perfect landscape canvas. The country is truly as beautiful as the film. Every square meter of the country is practically manicured ready for photos or video.

If you ever get a chance to visit Germany, I highly recommend driving through Bavaria and dip your toes into all the amazing lakes from Neuschwanstein Castle to Salzburg, Austria.

Visit Ukraine

Tony Yang 0 Comments Vacation

When I think of places around the world my friends need to visit, I often think of Ukraine. I would have never included Ukraine on my travel list before getting married, since it isn’t a popular destination spot nor do most Americans even know where Ukraine is! I’ve had the privilege of visiting my wife’s birth country with her family to get a real experience of a country that has such fascinating history as well as sharing such a similar story to that of Taiwan, my birth country.

The reason for being a highly recommended country to visit is because of the lack of tourism. You can visit the most famous cities of Kiev or Lviv, standing with centuries old architecture and old Soviet era cars, and never see another international tourist during your stay. Even with the extreme old world charm, there is still a lot of progress in the area of tourism that helps attract us back year after year.

If this video peaks your interest in visiting the beautiful country of Ukraine, we would be happy to be your personal guides!