Lake Nona, Ladies Tennis, Lions, Launches, Landings

Lake Nona

I had heard that the Middlebury College Ladies' Tennis team was going to be playing at Lake Nona. We I say heard, I mean I got a post on Facebook. I am a follower of Middlebury Athletics. Lake Nona, just an hour drive from my house, was where the USTA National Campus is located and they were hosting the NCAA Division III Tennis Team finals. I grabbed this photo from Google Earth.

It is a fairly large complex and includes a Main facility, many practice courts, and a small section with 12 courts for tournaments. (located in upper right of the photo above.) My friend Ken had joined me, and we made use of the snack bar, restrooms, and a few hours at the tournament courts.

I did grab a larger photo of the USTA Campus in the lower right, next to Lake Nona. As you can see, it is close to the Orlando International airport. The golf course on the middle right is where Annika Sörenstam lives.

As were approaching the courts I took a photo of the Middlebury College banner among other teams that were at the tournament. They also had the Brackets for the tournament and it also included the Men's tennis team and Middlebury was there.

AS we were watching the matches, we could tell that the Men's team was there cheering the ladies on. Ken started to talk to a few of the guys and pointed to me as the Middlebury fan. Ken caught a photo of me with three of the Middlebury College Panthers.

Also, Francis Paquette sent me a message on Facebook saying "our daughter-in-law is there with the tennis team. She is the Director of athletic communication and assistant director of athletics. Ali Paquette." 

The tournament started on a Monday, May 23. Both of the teams won that day (Quarterfinals)  and would be playing on Tuesday. I had a conflict that day and was planning to go to the finals on Wednesday, but neither team made it past semifinals.

Ladies' Tennis

The Middlebury team was scheduled to start at 6PM but I took this photo of Team introductions at 7:11 PM. Middlebury, ranked #5 in the country, was playing Pomona-Pitzer Colleges, ranked #2. Play included 3 double matches and 6 single matches. First team to 5 would win the match. Doubles played one set with 8 games to win the set. The singles were more traditional, six games to win a set and two sets to win the match.

The girls seemed to be fired up and then did finally win the match 5-4, and the final singles ended past midnight. Here is the final cheer before the games started.

Middlebury College player Gena Huang serves.

Some of the players were cheerers during the doubles.

Here one of the doubles teams win their match 8-5.

Other matches we saw part of was University of Chicago (#1) beat Amherst (#9); Wesleyan CT (#3) beat Emory (#8); Claremont-Mudd-Scripps (#4) beat MIT (#7). The California team Claremont-Mudd-Scripps won the National Team event beating U Chicago.

It was fun to go to and great to see Middlebury teams play. I usually attend games if I am in Vermont and school is in session.

Launch & Landing

On May 25, I drove to Port Canaveral to watch a SpaceX launch and landing. I usually go to Jetty Park but I had let my annual pass expire. These photos were from the boat ramp next to the Jetty Park Campground.

Liftoff of the Falcon 9 with a Coast Guard helicopter near by.

The stage one Falcon 9 rocket falling to earth.

The rocket lights up and then slows to a crawl for a safe landing. I am still amazed to see the landings. Most people there had never seen one and it seems almost like a science fiction movie from the 1950s.

Lions

I ended May by making another visit to the Brevard Zoo to see the lions. They are getting more comfortable in their area and walking around more. There are three lions, all brothers, born about three years ago in another Florida Zoo. Here one brother is grabbing the tail with his teeth of his brother.

With them walking around, it is a little easier to get a good photo...

One brother had his tongue hanging out, they are such majestic animals.

The Siamang Gibbons were yelling in their habitat, keeping most of the Zoo awake. The male was hanging outside, you can see his neck is full of air and he was bellowing. Not as loud as the Black Howler, but loud enough.

These lucky kayakers were going to go right pass the gibbons...

Jetty Park

On June 5, I decided to drive to Jetty Park to see if my renewed pass worked. It was a beautiful day and the passed work. Another L-word...Lighthouse, specifically the Cape Canaveral Lighthouse.

I know I have identified this bird before, but I forget what it is...

Man fishing from rocks on the Jetty...

Launch II

On June 8, I went to the beach to see the latest SpaceX launch. This crab had a great seat too.

Kind of hazy and cloudy but it went off on time. Liftoff over the Atlantic Ocean.

These surfers at Canova Beach were having too much fun to notice the Falcon 9 taking off from the Space Center.

Another great launch but it had clouded up over the area I was. So I did not get too many shots...

I always try to get a shot of the contrail...

Laughter

Well, as an afterthought, I added another L word to my alliterative post. My plan is to make a post for each letter. I have had B, C, and F. Now I have L. Only 22 more to go.

Enjoy the photos and I hope you have a laugh...it is good for you.

"Never do your best Quit"!!