'My family collects bookstores'
Some vacationers collect snow globes or seashells. My family collects bookshops. No, we can鈥檛 pack a bookshop and display it on a dresser, but when we discover a bookstore that captures the flavor of our destination, we stow the memory like a treasured souvenir.
To be clear, the Gehans can swim, ski, and sightsee as hard as the toughest tourists. We seek out bookshops to duck in from the sun or rest our weary feet.
If you find yourselves looking for bookshop balance on your next vacation, visit these favorites from our collection:
鈥� The Brewster Book Store in Brewster, Mass. Riding bicycles along Cape Cod鈥檚 Rt. 6A, we discovered not one but two children鈥檚 sections squeezed into this classic New England cottage. The store鈥檚 Cape Cod picture-book collection practically spills out the door.
Look for 鈥淩iptide,鈥� based on a true story of a local dog with a rogue spirit who 鈥� why don鈥檛 you find out for yourself?
鈥� We also recommend 鈥淭he Wedding Planner鈥檚 Dau颅ghter,鈥� a chapter book with scenes from Brewster鈥檚 own Ocean Edge Resort. The back of the shop is stocked full of science and world-record type volumes.
鈥� Children鈥檚 Shop at the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C. The underground concourse linking the National Gallery of Art鈥檚 east and west wings is an architectural marvel and home to a delicious children鈥檚 bookshop.
Shelves of picture books make fine art and artists irresistible for young and old. Don鈥檛 miss 鈥�Charlotte in Giverny,鈥� a fictional illustrated diary of an American girl spending the summer of 1892 among Impressionists, and 鈥淎rt Fraud Detective,鈥� where readers search masterpieces for forgery clues and explore fine art.
鈥� Salt Lake City Public Library in Utah. We bend the 鈥渂ookshop鈥� rules here to include Salt Lake鈥檚 book palace. Completed in 2003, a family could spend the entire day in the children鈥檚 library where coves dubbed Grandmother鈥檚 Attic and Crystal Cave are ideal for curling up with a story or unfurling one鈥檚 imagination.
It can get sunny sitting at the base of the five-story atrium, and when it does, librarians press a button to move a billowing, cloudlike fabric over the space. Salt Lake鈥檚 central library boasts a cafe, shopping, and a rooftop garden that鈥檚 a good place to look up from a book and enjoy views of the Wasatch Mountains.
鈥� Barnes & Noble Booksellers at the Power Plant in Baltimore, Md.
No ordinary big box, this former power plant from the turn of the 20th century was reinvented as a bookstore in the late 1990s but kept its hard industrial edge in the process. Ride the exposed escalators up along the 鈥渇urnace tubes鈥� to the children鈥檚 section.
For a bird鈥檚-eye view of the city, look for 鈥淧erry鈥檚 Baltimore Adventure鈥� in which readers tour Baltimore through the perspective of a peregrine falcon nesting in a city skyscraper.
鈥� Hamlet鈥檚 Bookshoppe in Breckenridge, Colo. Main Street in Breckenridge is a picturesque place because of Victorian charmers like Hamlet鈥檚.
The whimsical throne in the children鈥檚 corner is the ideal perch on which to read 鈥淐 is for Centennial: A Colorado Alphabet.鈥� (We are always on the lookout for the 鈥淒iscover America State by State鈥� books since they appeal to all ages in our family.) When we asked for a restroom, the bookseller showed us a lavatory secreted behind a door of greeting cards.
While our family might disagree over what thrill-ride line to wait in or what restaurant to dine in, when it comes to the query at Hamlet鈥檚 Bookshoppe, 鈥淭o Read or Not to Read?鈥� we are always on the same page.
鈥� By Erin Gehan
