Tennis Terms Go Travelling

Inspirations, Wildcard

Watching the BNP Paribas Open now underway at the Indian Wells Tennis Garden brings back fond memories. The year Magellan became a retired jubilado we rented a house in Palm Springs for five weeks and invited friends and family to come celebrate. Analyzing the odds, Magellan booked us tickets for the day he expected Rafa and Roger would play each other—and they did! Watching the Australian Open this January, we loved the ad that used tennis terms to showcase Melbourne: “Slice” showed a woman at a restaurant enjoying fresh tuna; “Foot Fault” presented a penguin briefly stumbling before waddling on. For fun, we’ve picked tennis terms to describe some of our travel experiences.

ACE: Magellan misses his ACE and drives the ball into the side of the bunker at New South Wales Golf Course, Sydney, Australia (Photo: Pat Christiansen)

ADVANTAGE: Spice decides not to get a closer photo as this bison has a weight ADVANTAGE, Grasslands National Park, Southern Saskatchewan

BASELINE: Hey little bear, watch out if you cross that BASELINE, Red Canyon Parkway, Waterton Lakes National Park, Alberta

CHALLENGE: We didn’t meet Tom’s CHALLENGE and get to the waterfall, Tom’s Hike, Palm Springs

DEUCE: Fishing derby between Joan and Margie tied at DEUCE, Saskatchewan

DOUBLES: Two Ladies Lake and No Ladies’ Lake, DOUBLES that you’d think could be better named, Purcell Mountains, BC

FAULT: Park Service at FAULT for failing to sand black ice, Highway 16 near Jasper

FOOT FAULT: Walking stick saves Magellan from a FOOT FAULT but not a fashion fault, La Vega de Liébana, Spain

LET: LET sleeping dogs lie, Chiiori, Japan

LOVE: LOVE, meaning zero, is the number of fish Spice and Ruth Ann caught, Whitianga, New Zealand

MATCH: Magellan looking good at this point in the MATCH (chessboard crafted by Clare)

MOONBALL: Reid hits a MOONBALL within feet of the pin, Indian Canyons Golf Course, Palm Springs

OUT: Kohanga, hoping to get OUT of this sand Spice and Magellan stuck her in, Lake Wakatipu, New Zealand

SERVE: Fish SERVED with a wave, Adumaya Ryokan, Yunomine, Japan

SLICE: Lady M Mille Crêpes Cake is a SLICE, New York

VOLLEY: The Disc Golf gods VOLLEYED this throw back down the hill, Disc Golf, South Pender Island, BC (Photo: Lynn Sully)

WILD CARD: Marge the Barge was the WILD CARD that escaped her mooring to spend the winter on Sunset Beach, Vancouver, BC

8 Responses

Heather says:

March 20, 2022 at 1:50 pm

Yes I remember your time in Palm Springs..And that fabulous fig? cheesecake from Shermans!

Reply
1. Spice says:
  
  March 20, 2022 at 3:02 pm
  
  It was a date cheesecake and if you want the recipe after pleading with them they gave it to me!
  
  Reply
P W Christiansen says:

March 20, 2022 at 8:05 am

Very much enjoyed our time in 2016 at the BNP Paribas open. Hopefully we will repeat in 2023 when we are back. I recall a few of these pictures – Magellan’s ACE in NSW – The Palm Springs rock climb CHALLENGE – Reid’s MOONBALL. Need a pair of those FOOT FAULT shoes…….. Looking forward to travelling again……

Reply
1. Magellan says:
  
  March 20, 2022 at 8:54 am
  
  That trip was a real GOAT–Greatest of All Time!
  
  Reply
Barry MacLeod says:

March 20, 2022 at 7:50 am

Always good to mix up the material, my personal addition is a picture of Novak Djokovic and the word “Fault.”

Nice pictures and a springtime story.

Reply
1. Magellan says:
  
  March 20, 2022 at 8:33 am
  
  The Australian Nick Kyrgios’ specialty shot is the Tweener; where Djokovic was a bit of a Weiner, until he was Bounced
  
  Reply
Diane Wilby says:

March 20, 2022 at 7:36 am

Lol! Loved the photos and the reference to tennis terms. Oh, to travel again!

Reply
1. Magellan says:
  
  March 20, 2022 at 8:36 am
  
  Agreed! Can’t wait to be able to say “Bye” and advance to the next round of travelling.
  
  Reply