#1 Google Street View Virtual Tour in Phoenix AZ
Finally, I had chance to visit Watson Lake, Prescott AZ the second time. The first time was wonderful, but I did not have the new Canon 8-15mm fisheye lens, Nodal Ninja R1 pano head, and heavy duty Manfrotto Carbon Fiber Tripod (see my gears).
It was a little cloudy, but very sunny day. We did a little walk on the rocks and tool few panorama shots. You can see the 360 degree virtual tour in action on my Google Maps View page. Or see the HDR Watson Lake in action below.
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I’ve been looking for opportunity to see this big 10.4 acre property myself for years. Chateau de Vie in Chandler, AZ is the largest private own residential property in the neighborhood. It also has some interesting news in the past years. The current owner Mr. Goodman were very generously giving a private tour to see the entire property and it’s beautiful architect design.
The property is currently on the marketing as luxury vacation rental for rich people, group or company to rent the place for whatever private reason.
I thought about writing my experience about driving on the road to Hana, which is one of the most famous activities on the island of Maui. I am not a really travel blogger, but I will give it a try. Here is one of the reasons that you want to drive the road to Hana. Watch the high definition video from ther2h.com. The road is built beautifully and there are so many small bridges, water falls and beaches on this 60+ miles drive. You will need to get up early before the rush hour. Here are some tips!
Experience the Road to Hana | Maui | R2H from R2H: The Road to Hana on Vimeo.
Well. Personally, we got up at 5:00AM and went to McDonald and bought our breakfast. We also pack our own lunch with us, because there is no real place to eat in between Hana and Paia other than banana bread stand. Believe me, you will spend 16 hours or even longer on the road from Paia to Hana, to Kaupo, to highway 31, and back to Kahului. Not to mention that you will need to reserve at least 3 hours to hike to the Waimoku fall (2 miles one way) and soak yourself at the 7 pools when you get back down.
The most beautiful part of the Road to Hana is actually from Hana and to Kaupo, which includes few miles of unpaved one lane road. ** Watch this YouTube Video to see what I mean exciting **. I don’t recommend renting Jeep for more than 2 person on board. Personally, the humid weather can easily make your passenger carsick. Not to mention you don’t have enough space to store your camera equipment and food. We bought a case of bottle of waters from Costco a day before and leave them in the trunk. So a car with air-condition will be a better option than Jeep does. You will get dehydrate fast without knowing it. You will need to expect unexpected rain shower that can get you really wet and cold as well.
Here are my personal tips:
It will look just like the picture below. It’s all muddy water and you can’t count the 7 pools.
During the 2 mile hike, you will see this beautiful bamboo forest. They are actually much darker than the pictures are. It’s breath taking! I guarantee!
Finally, you will reach the Waimoku Falls!
Well. After this point you will have lots driving on the unpaved road and them super smooth highway 31. Watch out for the big dump-truck, which will come out as surprise (see the YouTube above).
Super smooth highway 31. Seriously, I mean very SMOOTH. You won’t believe that people are living there!
Well. I hope this guide gives you clear ideas about the road to Hana in Maui. Enjoy and let me know if you discover something else on your road to Hana!
I know you may laugh at me, but the first thing we did on the first day after we land at Maui, Hawaii is to find out where the shopping mall is located and how the 1% live on the island. So we can decide where to eat and where to get started on our vacation. The shops at Wailea is located at the south west side of Wailea-Makena on the island. It has most of the luxury brand you can name. Tiffany & Co., Gucci and many more. It’s funny that we were the only few people hang out at the luxury mall, while there is no other people around.
These are my newest edition of HDR photography, which I kind of over process them. I am sure next time, I can do better job.
Honestly, I like how the color turns out to be.
Well. It’s been a long time (over a year) since my last vacation. I decided to move on to the 1% lifestyle and hopefully stay for a while and enjoy it for the rest of my life. My wife and I decided to pay a visit to Maui, Hawaii. The island is beautiful with so may beaches that you can swim and do snorkeling all day. Not to mention that there are so many luxury mansions and resorts around the beach. I stop by this luxury property and love the decoration. Sorry. Can’t show you the inside. I also haven’t done any HDR Photography for sometime. My skills is getting rusty. You will soon see more Hawaii Photos.
Well. If don’t know where to start your Maui lifestyle, check out the following deals (click on the image). You can also use this link to save 10% on every luxury deal you find that is over $1000.
You probably already know how much I like HDR photography. It gives me the great reason to show unbelievable color in a plain photo. I took the following photos near Snowbowl in Flagstaff AZ. It was supposed to snow, but we end up seeing the beautiful golden flagstaff. The sky is also so blue that I can resist to take shot after shot.
This is part of serial Flagstaff photos I took over the weekend. We accidentally found there are many national monuments we haven’t not visited on our way to Grand Canyon. We decided to change our course and stop by at Wupakti National Monument. This photo is taken at Lomaki Pueblo. It took me 3 shots to combine into this HDR photo. It was not an easy process to get the sun light without darken the brick wall. I have to say this is one of the most beautiful ruins I’ve seen. The view there is breath taking. I even shot the 360 degree video. See below.
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As much as I love HDR photography, I am not so much about making it unreal. We were stopping at the cross road near Snowbowl ski resort in Flagstaff AZ. I figure this will be a great spot to take some dramatic scene. This is just the beginning of my serial HDR photos in the coming days. It was supposed to snow, but we did not get to see the white Flagstaff. However, we do see the golden Flagstaff.
