Family Road Trip to Wayanad

Since Aarush started his Higher Secondary education, our holiday calendars no longer matched. With these one-and-a-half crucial years ahead, we didn’t plan any big vacations. Personally, I wanted to do the MTR yatra this year, especially since it’s the 10th anniversary of MTR.

The initial plan was to repeat the route from the first edition of MTR, but later it changed—although the theme of “13 days, 13 states” stayed intact. Aarush’s vacation was the week of October 7th, while Pamela’s was from the 9th to the 19th. We thought about doing a quick trip to Amritsar from Delhi, but ultimately, we settled for a road trip to Wayanad, Kerala.

We had been to Wayanad ages ago when Aarush was just a little boy, but recently there had been a massive landslide there. Naturally, we were a bit skeptical, but we told ourselves that this trip was really about spending family time together. After last year’s Rajasthan vacation, we hadn’t had the chance to step out as a family.

I took two weeks off work from October 2nd to 16th. On the evening of the 9th, I returned from Delhi. I wanted to keep running during the MTR days, so on the morning of the 10th, I made sure to complete my 13KM before we left. That’s when I realized the car’s PUC had expired! So, off we went to the nearest petrol pump to get that sorted. By the time we left home, it was already 10 AM, smack in the middle of Bangalore’s infamous Thursday traffic. I kept telling myself, “It’s okay, just go with the flow.” By the time we hit the Mysore Expressway after Kengeri, it was already around 11 AM.

The drive on the (not-so-new) six-lane expressway was peaceful and uneventful. I made sure to maintain a speed less than the posted limit. Near the exit by Srirangapatna, a cop flagged us down. Turns out, there was a pending fine on the car, which gave us a little blood pressure spike for about two minutes. Thankfully, it got resolved quickly.

In Mysore, we decided to stop at Sandhya Lunch Home for lunch, and wow—what a feast! We had an amazing meal on a banana leaf, with over 10 items on the menu. Just as we were leaving Mysore, it started raining lightly, but nothing too bad, so we continued through Nagarhole Tiger Reserve and entered Kerala via Baveli Gate. This is a forest road that’s only open from 6 AM to 6 PM.

We stopped near Panamaram for a quick bite at a new place, where the service was fantastic. As soon as we hit the road again, we spotted an Indian Coffee House! It was already dark when we reached Vythiri.

As we bypassed Kalpetta via the new (to us) bypass, a sign for a restaurant called “1980” caught my eye. I casually mentioned that maybe we should try it at least once during our stay. Spoiler alert: By the time we returned from Wayanad, we had breakfast, lunch, AND dinner at this place!

Dinner that night in Vythiri was excellent. Pamela and I chose à la carte, while Aarush went for the buffet. The freshly cooked meal was easily 100 times better than the buffet.

The next morning, I started my day with a run inside the resort—a small flat loop. After covering some ground, I went out to find a barber shop in town, while Pamela and Aarush explored the property. I managed to complete a 10K run and decided to walk the remaining 3KM as a cool-down.

For breakfast, we decided to try a place called India-Gate, just outside our resort on the main highway. It was really good! The place had a ton of positive reviews online, and it lived up to them. The food was clean, hygienic, and simple—nothing fancy, but definitely satisfying.

After breakfast, we headed to Banasura Sagar Dam. The drive was beautiful, with most of the roads newly paved and super smooth. We spent a lot of time there, walking leisurely and covering more than 3KM according to my Garmin.

From there, we went to Karlad Lake. It’s a much smaller place compared to Banasura but charming in its own way, with lots of flowers, butterflies, and small birds fluttering about.

Next, we planned to visit the Chain Tree and Lakkidi View Point, both on the highway towards Kozhikode (Calicut). During our 2013 visit, we took this road all the way down while Aarush slept in his car seat. This time, however, as soon as we started towards Lakkidi, it began pouring rain, forcing us to turn back to Vythiri.

That night, we decided to try out 1980, despite it being a 14KM drive. To our disappointment, most of the items on the menu weren’t available. We had a decent dinner, but honestly, we felt like fools for driving all that way in the rain.

Saturday morning arrived, and it was raining again, so my running plans were washed out. We headed to Udupi Bhavan for breakfast before making our way to Edakkal Cave. The drive was smooth, but we ended up parking at lot “8,” which was a bit far from the starting point. Anyway, it didn’t matter in the long run—we had to walk about 1KM uphill, followed by many steps. It was packed with tourists since it was a Saturday and Dussehra vacation.

The cave paintings were incredible, ranging from 5000 years old to some that were just 200 years old, with inscriptions in old Tamil. Truly fascinating!

Afterward, we made another attempt at 1980, and this time, the place was packed! We waited 30 minutes for a table, but it was worth it—every item on the menu was available, and we had a proper feast!

As the weather cleared up a bit, we managed to visit Lakkidi View Point, but skipped Pookode Lake. With some sunlight left and no rain, Pamela took the opportunity to finish her saree shoot in the scenic settings.

For dinner, Pamela and I kept it light with just soup, while Aarush enjoyed his pasta.

Sunday morning, I completed a slow 5KM before we packed up to head back to Bangalore. Of course, we had to stop at 1980 one last time, this time for breakfast. So, in a fun twist, we ended up having breakfast, lunch, and dinner there over three different days—just in reverse order!

Pro tip: Avoid 1980 for dinner.

On the way back, we saw a sign for Kurva Island, just 8KM away. We thought, “Why not?” Sadly, they weren’t allowing tourists on the island due to elephant activity, only offering quick boat rides. We passed on the bamboo raft ride, fancy as it sounded.

The drive to Mysore was smooth, and we planned a stop at SAPA, the new happening place. The place was packed, and seating was scarce, especially since it was raining. I grabbed an espresso shot and a Pain Suisse Chocolate, and after an hour, we finally got a table. We ordered tons of food and takeaways:

• Kokum Ginger drink
• Iced Chocolate Mocha
• Hand-cut French fries
• Blueberry Hemp Salad
• Mexican Chicken Enchiladas
• Broccoli Walnut Agnolotti
• Café Eclair
• Almond Croissant (for takeaway)
• Pain Suisse Chocolate (for takeaway)

We ended up spending more on food at SAPA in one sitting than we had over the last three days combined!

The drive back to Bangalore was as expected—slow and painful, with everyone heading back after the long weekend. But on the bright side, while we saw many accidents and pileups, we weren’t part of any of them!

Pictures