Booksellers and Pacific Northwest Booksellers Association Board Members emeritus Maggie Freitag and Leigh Ann Giles undertook a spectacular Pacific Northwest bookstore tour. For their first leg of the trip, see here. For their second update, click here. This is a third and final write-up. 

We woke to the view of another gorgeous day with the brisk wind blowing white caps on Lake Chelan. We are lucky to have this opportunity to sit in awe of the panoramic scenery from our lakeside patio. After a really big breakfast of really big apple pancakes with Libby, we packed up the Prius, made our final visit to Riverwalk Books and headed west toward Leavenworth and our next Indie Bookstore, A Book for All Seasons. We missed Pat but were greeted by her smiling photo in the entry and her loyal staff, sons Andrew and Stephen. It’s a family run store! While we browsed the various cubbies of book genres, Andrew assisted local children’s author, Robert, and his wife Karen as they prepared for an afternoon book signing. After ending our weeklong search for Memory Wall by Anthony Doerr and finding ourselves amidst a shop full of book lovers, we regretfully said our goodbyes to Stephen and Andrew, with promises to see them at the fall PNBA Trade Show in Portland.

Now we’re on the homestretch, and even though the beautiful morning had turned into sleet and slush, we made it over Stevens Pass while talking about the good times and great booksellers we’ve met and conversed with over the past 5 days. We still had several miles before reaching the end of the bookstore trail with two last bookstores to visit, Snow Goose Books & Frames in Stanwood and Village Books in Bellingham.

Leigh Ann is not prone to ticket producing speeds, so our arrival in Stanwood was in the late afternoon. It was our good fortune to find Snow Goose Books & Frames open in their new location. Having just moved down the street in January, owners Kristine and Tom now host a frame shop in the back of their store. It’s one stop shopping for books, gifts and art projects. We visited with their friendly employee, Sarah who expressed a great joy in being involved with books. The temptation of one last ice cream from the parlor across the street was the only thing that lured us away from Snow Goose.

We blitzed along the back roads to Bellingham and found a parking spot right in front of Village Books, the one and only. Owners, Chuck and Dee, were not in the store but we visited with staff favorites, Robert and Hayden, and Colleen and Harvey, Village Books loyal customers. A Bellingham community favorite for over 30 years, Village Books is a grand bookstore boasting three floors of books, 2 restaurants, a gift shop (Paper Dreams) and of course books for everyone.

And this is where we unpack the Prius and go our separate ways. The back seat is stacked with our books and special tokens/mementos collected along the way. In the end, we want to thank all the booksellers at all the stores who opened their doors and arms to us. We’ve had a great trip, made new friends and visited with old friends, seen beautiful country and well kept stores. Each store was unique, beautiful, thoughtful and obviously loved.

We know we’ve missed some great stores and are already planning our next adventure(s) … Autumn seems like a great time for an island bookstore hop and perhaps beyond….

Love, Leigh Ann and Maggie

The 20 Stores we visited in 5 days, 917 miles at 48/mpg
Oregon:
Cloud and Leaf Bookstore, Manzanita
Cannon Beach Book Company, Cannon Beach
Beach Books, Seaside
Lucy’s Books, Astoria
Godfathers Books, New and Used, Astoria
Washington:
Vintage Books, Vancouver
Book ‘N’ Brush, Chehalis
Tilikum Used Books, Centralia
Anderson’s Book Co. — Used books, Centralia
Inklings Bookshop, Yakima
Central Washington’s Bookstore, Ellensburg
Jerrol’s Book & Supply, Ellensburg
Pearl Street Books & Gifts, Ellensburg
The Brick Road –Used books, Ellensburg
Amanda’s Book Store — Used books, Wenatchee
Hastings, Wenatchee
Riverwalk Books, Chelan
A Book for All Seasons, Leavenworth
Snow Goose Books & Frames, Stanwood
Village Books, Bellingham