It has long been known that jet lag has a much more severe effect when the travel is from west to east.[1] The twenty-nine-hour day that we endured on Friday did not seem to have much effect on Sue and me. We both woke up on Saturday with quite a bit of energy. Of course, it was always easier to drag oneself out of bed when the temperature outside was already in the seventies.

The Goofy Cafe & Dine was an easy walk.

I had arranged with Ann to play in the Open Pairs game at 1:00 and 7:30. Therefore, Sue and I had plenty of time for Sue's favorite meal, breakfast. I looked on the internet for a breakfast place in Waikiki. The Goofy Cafe & Dine had many good reviews, and it appeared to be fairly close to the Hilton. The restaurant's breakfast menu seemed rather limited, esoteric, and pricey, but part of the fun on a vacation was trying new things. We decided to go there. We walked over to Rainbow Drive and turned right. We then turned left on Kalia[2] Road. We walked for a block to Ala Moana[3] Boulevard, the road that served as the dividing line between Waikiki and the rest of Honolulu.

There was a striking contrast between the south side of Ala Moana and the north side. At that point Ala Moana was a divided road with three or more lanes on each side. A hedge was planted in the middle so that it was actually difficult to see one side of the road from the other. We had planned on turning left at the intersection without crossing Ala Moana, but when we reached the corner we were just barely able to see some stores across the street. On the corner was a breakfast place that had apparently been abandoned, and two or three doors to its left was a logo with which we were quite familiar, IHOP.

A familiar logo grabbed our attention.

Our growling bellies implored us to abandon the search for Goofy forthwith. We crossed the street and approached the crowded IHOP. People both inside and out were waiting for tables, and a Robert's tour bus was parked outside. This looked like trouble, but we actually had to wait for only a few minutes. We sat indoors. To the left of the waiting area I noticed a sign on the door that led to another establishment. It turned out that this IHOP had no restrooms. If nature called, you had to procure a key from an employee and go through the door to the hotel next door. I never learned what adventures were required after that.

I also noticed a man in a black on red XXL Kapa'a Warriors tee shirt that celebrated the team's victory in a football championship. Once inside I saw another very large man with a different Kapa'a Warriors tee shirt. His was white with green lettering. I knew that Kapa'a was the most populous town on Kaua'i.[4] Seeing people from that island in this area of Honolulu surprised me.

The interior of the IHOP. The guy with the Kapa'a Warriors shirt has his ample back to the camera.

The restaurant was larger than it looked from the outside. It was somewhat crowded, but numerous empty tables were in evidence. I don't know why people had to wait.

Almost as soon as we reached our table the waiter came to offer us coffee, which we gladly accepted. I ordered one of the Senior Specials, the 2+2+2, which consisted of two eggs, two sausage links or strips of bacon, and two pancakes. It tasted good, as it always does, and the service was exceptionally good. By Waikiki standards the prices were an outstanding bargain. We definitely planned to return.

On the way back to our hotel room Sue and I stopped at the tournament headquarters in the Mid-Pacific Conference Center. We had to go up two escalators to get there. We located the registration desk and filled out the cards. There was no SWAG bag this time, just a rather chintzy beach towel, a sticker, and a Schedule and Restaurant Guide.

The next stop was the desk where Marilyn Wells was selling Bridge Bucks. I bought $300 worth. This seemed like a lot of money for a week's worth of bridge, but this was Hawai'i, where they think nothing of asking $550 to sleep in a bed for one night in the middle of nowhere.

I picked up a copy of the Daily Bulletin. As I scanned through it I was taken aback by a very small notice on p. 3, which is displayed at the left.

Wait a minute. No cash concessions? What about caffeine fixes? Are they serving free coffee like we do in District 25? In Hawai'i? I doubted it. How did they expect people like me to get through a 3.5 hour session of bridge without a caffeine fix? I guess that I would need to do some preparation for each round.

I was also somewhat dismayed by the fact that someone had dared to include “Starbucks” and “reasonable prices” in the same sentence.

Sue filled out a card at the Partnership Desk. We then took the escalators back down and crossed over to the Tapa tower to get ready for some bridge.

Before I left for the first session I could not help myself. I checked the score of The Game on my computer. It was not over yet, but it was obvious that Ohio State was on its way to a big win. This was soul-crushing news. I resolved, however, to try to compartmentalize my emotions and concentrate on bridge.

The ABC Stores were everywhere in Waikiki and other tourist areas throughout the islands. They sold almost anything that you could need. The locals shunned them because their prices were higher than found in grocery stores, drug stores, and department stores. Tourists loved them because they sold everything, and their prices were much lower than those of other retailers in Waikiki.

The ABC in the Tapa Tower had many choices of beverages in the refrigerated case, but the Diet Cokes were not very cold.

An ABC Store was located right in the Tapa Tower, and another one was in the Rainbow Bazaar. I stopped by the former to pick up a Diet Coke for the afternoon session, but the ones in the refrigerator there were not very cold. In the Rainbow Bazaar store I found colder ones and bought a pair of 20 oz. bottles for $3.50, which was not a bad price for a hotel. I inserted both of them into my backpack next to my windbreaker and camera case.

The 1:30 games were held in one of the Tapa Ballrooms. I arrived there at a little before 1:00 and shortly thereafter met up with Ann. We talked about Good-Bad 2NT, which had been on our card for years. We had recently discovered that we had a strong difference of opinion as to when it should be used. We decided just to remove it from the card until we figured this out.

We played pretty well in the first session, but the competition was extremely tough. Our section predominately consisted of A teams. We only managed a little over 51%, but that was good enough for first in B in the section.

It was quite chilly in the ballroom. I put on my windbreaker for the first hand and kept it on throughout the session. That first session was the worst, but this pattern repeated throughout the week. Usually in large rooms the temperature varies from cold to hot throughout the session, but in Hawai'i I was never hot and seldom slightly warm while playing bridge. Outside of the playing areas the temperature was consistently comfortable.

After the round I met Sue for supper. I wanted to try the Hau Tree Cantina, which was down on the edge of the beach. The description in the Restaurant Guide is displayed at the right.

What it did not mention was that the Hau Tree Cantina stopped serving food at 5:00.[5] We arrived just before 5, and a waiter told us that it was too late to order. He advised us to walk over to the Tropics Bar, which was nearby. We did so. I ordered the Roasted Beer Can Chicken. It was pretty good, but the price tag on supper was outrageous. The bar had a nice view of the beach, I guess, but it was just before sundown, and if you glanced toward the sea, the sun was blinding. I had to wear my Smithsonian baseball cap throughout the meal to protect my sensitive macula.

The second session of bridge was a disaster. The competition seemed even stiffer than it had been in the afternoon, and we were not up to the task. Sitting at table 1 N-S we got off to a horrible start. On the first hand I went down two doubled on a perfectly reasonable 4♠ contract in which every card was in the wrong place. In fact, the opponents could have made 5♥, but it seemed like a catastrophe at the time.

We then embarked on a series of mistakes on defense. On hand #2 we were not aggressive enough; the declarer (West playing a ludicrous 4♥ contract) drew trump and ran the dummy's diamonds. We never got to cash one of our aces.

We can set the opponents' 4♥ contract on hand #4 by just sitting back, making conservative plays, and waiting for our tricks. Instead, we chose an attacking defense, and the declarer was actually able to score an embarrassing overtrick.

The pattern continued all evening, and our final result was a humbling 35% game that felt even worse.

Tomorrow would be another day. Maybe we would do better as two of the youngest players in the Super Senior Pairs.

I went over to the reception to consume a slider. At these prices it was unwise to pass up any free food. The fête seemed less festive and much less crowded than what I remembered from previous NABC events. I did not see anyone whom I knew. I returned to our room and unsuccessfully tried to avoid thinking about football or bridge.

Sue had come to the islands with almost no plans. She had bridge commitments for Thursday and Friday, but she did not even know whether she would be playing the first five days. I learned that she had not only played in both the afternoon and evening sessions on Saturday. She had even stayed around to play one round of the Zip Knockouts as well. I began to wonder whether $300 worth of Bridge Bucks would be enough.