Trip to Ooty and Mysore

This past weekend we took a sightseeing trip up and across the mountains to Ooty and Mysore. We had such an awesome time!!! And took a LOT of pictures :). It'll take me a few days of posting to get enough pictures on here to give you a feel for the trip. Hope you enjoy it!

Heading toward the mountains, Thursday afternoon

Yes, those are donkeys crossing the road

We saw many animals, domestic and wild, on and along the roadside on this adventure including donkeys, cows, horses, water buffalo, elephants, pigs, chickens, guar (wild cattle), mongoose, peacocks, wild boar, spotted deer, jungle cock, monkeys, turkeys. I'll be posting pictures of many of them in the next few days.

reaching the foot of the mountain, the terrain is beginning to look like jungle

just beginning the ascent, you can see the view is already beautiful

crazy monkeys, they were all along the side of the road, waiting for a handout

glad this wasn't us!

There were very dangerous hairpin turns all the way up and down the mountain. Huge buses like this one have to swing way out in these narrow lanes, and I'm sure accidents happen often.

my handsome husband

climbing higher

These pictures really cannot do justice to the awesomeness of the view. Every time we came around a curve, we wanted to stop and take more pictures. Our driver was really great, and had this uncanny sense for when we were getting out our cameras. He would stop (whenever it was safe) and let us soak it in.

tea gardens

This area is famous for their tea gardens. You can see them in these pictures. The tea grows on short bushes. The dark lines are footpaths.

waterfall

Houses and gardens were build right into the mountainside. Gave everything a story book look. With all the colors, it kinda reminded me of a patchwork quilt.

I love the terraced gardens

To be continued...