Epinions Recent Reviews for 2manykids

The Suburban Grill: Another Gem in Arkansas

Thu, 27 Dec 2001 21:51:49 GMT

rating: 5/5 by: Epinions Author 2manykids - I'd recently moved to the tidy, upscale, and "quiet" (we won't talk about the train) bedroom community of Cabot, Arkansas. Seeking something more inviting than assembly-line fast food, I decided to check out an all-you-can-eat crab buffet at some place...

Impressive little chain saw

Sat, 22 Dec 2001 14:13:13 GMT

rating: 5/5 by: Epinions Author 2manykids - I recently found myself the proud owner of my first home, including the heating bills. I also have the good fortune of a supply of cheap, plentiful hardwood. That in mind, I went looking for a firewood saw.

I grew up around chain saws in a...

West Bend Bread and Dough Maker 41053 Bread Machine: How did we live without this thing?

Fri, 22 Dec 2000 16:30:28 GMT

rating: 5/5 by: Epinions Author 2manykids - My wife, a fanatic about freshly baked bread, doesn't bake. I do. I also go to college full-time and work full-time, so I rarely have time to mess up the kitchen with flour, bits of dough, and piles of dishes. PURELY WITH MY BEST INTERESTS IN HER...

Great Printer for School Work

Tue, 19 Dec 2000 13:07:24 GMT

rating: 5/5 by: Epinions Author 2manykids - The first thing I love about the Lexmark Z-42 (who names these things, anyway?) is its size: about the same as a couple loaves of bread. It doesn't fax, scan, photocopy or e-mail. There's no telephone handset hanging clumsily off to one side. It...

The Classic Salmon Reel

Mon, 31 Jul 2000 22:38:16 GMT

rating: 5/5 by: Epinions Author 2manykids - Puget Sound anglers have been using the Penn 209-series level wind reels since I was a kid. They, and their bigger cousin, the Penn 309, have likely hauled in more salmon, steelhead, lingcod, and halibut than any other product on the sport fishing...

Kokanee on a String

Sun, 30 Jul 2000 22:04:21 GMT

rating: 5/5 by: Epinions Author 2manykids - Kokanee salmon are the small yet abundant landlocked relative of the more familiar sockeye salmon. Like all salmon, the flavorful flesh is a rich orange color, due to its high fat content. Kokanee aren't spectacular fighters, nor do they reach...

An Affliction for Steelhead

Sun, 30 Jul 2000 20:40:05 GMT

rating: 5/5 by: Epinions Author 2manykids - It was cold, a mind-numbing, knee-knocking, freeze-the-coffee-while-it's-still-hot kind of cold. Still, throngs of fishermen lined the banks of the Snake River at Lower Granite Dam. Numerous driftwood fires provided little relief. My back to one fire,...

The Brookies of Grand Valley

Sun, 30 Jul 2000 17:19:31 GMT

rating: 5/5 by: Epinions Author 2manykids - Brook trout are not native to Washington State. For that matter, they're not trout at all, they're char. No matter. Planted in many of Washington's remote lakes, half the challenge lies in just reaching the fish.

I could have done it the...

The Underrated Mackerel

Sun, 30 Jul 2000 15:43:50 GMT

rating: 3/5 by: Epinions Author 2manykids - Pacific Mackerel are one of the more underrated game fish species in the world. They bite readily on nearly anything, put up a great fight (for the fight of your life, hook a king mackerel!), and prepared properly, make great eating. This is a...

Lewis River Cutthroats

Sun, 30 Jul 2000 13:15:52 GMT

rating: 5/5 by: Epinions Author 2manykids - My brother, Mom, and stepdad spent the weekend panning gold in southwest Washington's Lewis River, above a stretch called Molten Falls. The river descends layers of ancient lava flows in a series of stair-steps. Water-worn cups in the volcanic bed of...

Confessions of a Coho Junky

Sat, 29 Jul 2000 17:52:49 GMT

rating: 5/5 by: Epinions Author 2manykids - I was doing my level best to look both sea-sick and harmless. We'd never heard or seen the Department of Fisheries Zodiac patrol boat until they were within feet of boarding us. That eerily silent boat simply slipped out of a dense fog bank, while two...

Cliff-fishing for Mahi-mahi

Mon, 24 Jul 2000 21:24:15 GMT

rating: 5/5 by: Epinions Author 2manykids - Scorchingly hot in summer, sub-tropical Okinawa can be miserably cold in winter. Beginning in November, rain squalls and chill winds froth the ocean and whip the coastline. At the point of land called Cape Zampa, it's especially bad. Steep and jagged...

Ugly, even for a fish!

Sun, 23 Jul 2000 16:14:16 GMT

rating: 5/5 by: Epinions Author 2manykids - Seeking relief from the murderous Indian Ocean heat, our party of four reeled in our bottom-fishing gear. Switching to trolling plugs, we cranked up the motor, hauled in the anchor, and began trolling Diego Garcia's lagoon. We hoped to catch a few...

"Green meat?! What the hey...?"

Sun, 23 Jul 2000 01:00:29 GMT

rating: 5/5 by: Epinions Author 2manykids - My brother and I were doing one of those things that Mom was better off not knowing about. We were fishing on the South Jetty at Grays Harbor, Washington in one doozy of a Pacific storm. On the 1-10 "dumb ideas" scale, this was at least a 14...

Grilled Blacktip Shark

Sun, 23 Jul 2000 00:16:57 GMT

rating: 3/5 by: Epinions Author 2manykids - This fish was whipping my butt. As an apex predator, I'm supposed to be about the baddest thing out there, but today it wasn't working out. Some aircrew and I chartered a blue-water boat out of Diego Garcia, a British island in the Indian Ocean. Our...

Indian Ocean Barracudas

Sat, 22 Jul 2000 17:48:53 GMT

rating: 4/5 by: Epinions Author 2manykids - I always catch what I ain't prepared for. I'd deployed on short notice to the island of Diego Garcia in the Indian Ocean, for whatever crisis du-jour was happening in Southwest Asia. I can't remember, and likely can't talk about it anyway. Point is, I...

An off-beat lure for big trout

Sat, 22 Jul 2000 10:43:25 GMT

rating: 5/5 by: Epinions Author 2manykids - I've always been fascinated with the pursuit of big trout. I mean BIG trout, the kind you see hanging out on magazine covers but can never find when you're actually fishing.

The problem with catching big trout stems from the fact that they...

Climbing Mt. Rainier

Thu, 20 Jul 2000 23:32:11 GMT

rating: 5/5 by: Epinions Author 2manykids - I wanted to puke. Here I was, 9,000 feet up the northern shoulder of majestic Mt. Rainier, Washington, and I felt like spilling my cookies all over the nice, clean snow. Some climber!

Our group of ten Air Force members were on a climb,...

Training for the Olympics

Tue, 18 Jul 2000 22:42:01 GMT

rating: 5/5 by: Epinions Author 2manykids - The Olympic National Park, that is. If you want to prepare your young for a lifetime of enjoying wilderness travel, the Skokomish River Trail near Lake Cushman is the place to start.

I can't remember the number of times I've hiked this...

Body odor: nature's bear repellent

Tue, 18 Jul 2000 18:06:14 GMT

rating: 5/5 by: Epinions Author 2manykids - I'd been hiking the Olympic National Park for nearly a week. It was typical hot, dusty Labor Day Weekend weather and I'd just ascended Lost Pass, then Cameron Pass, while travelling from the Dosewallips River to Grand Ridge. I hadn't seen a bath in a...

The Most Gawdawful Hike in the Olympics: Wagon Wheel Lake.

Mon, 17 Jul 2000 20:44:00 GMT

rating: 5/5 by: Epinions Author 2manykids - I couldn't believe we'd be so thirsty. My brother and I were two miles up the steepest, driest, most switch-backed trail we'd ever seen in Olympic National Park. Even worse, it was a dry trail. Uncharacteristic for a park that boasts a rain forest,...

Cedar Lake - Graywolf Pass: one scenic traverse!

Sun, 16 Jul 2000 12:07:06 GMT

rating: 5/5 by: Epinions Author 2manykids - A note about wilderness travel: for safety's sake, travel in groups of four. If one person gets hurt, a partner remains with the victim and the other two travel together to get help. Know your abilities and remain within them, be in adequate shape,...

Dolly Fishing along the Hoh

Sat, 15 Jul 2000 15:29:11 GMT

rating: 4/5 by: Epinions Author 2manykids - I wasn't expecting fish the size of my thigh! I'd taken a few days off work and hiked up the Hoh River trail, on the western edge of Olympic National Park. I'd brought along the obligatory lightweight trout rod, planning to pass the time casting small...

"Bruises and blisters and bears, oh my!"

Fri, 14 Jul 2000 22:33:34 GMT

rating: 5/5 by: Epinions Author 2manykids - The weather was awful, my knee hurt like mad, both feet sported infected blisters, and now a bear wanted to eat my dinner. I was having a really rotten afternoon!

I'd been resting in an old wooden shelter called "bear camp" for...

Misawa and Aomori: SuperNatural Northern Japan

Sun, 9 Jul 2000 12:12:05 GMT

rating: 4/5 by: Epinions Author 2manykids - Japan is far from a homogeneous society. The countryside, the language, and even the way people look varies dramatically from one place to another. If you've seen Tokyo and think you have a definitive view of Japan, guess again. You need to travel...