"I just got back from a week's vacation up north. Where? The City of Books," wrote David Allen in an Inland Valley Daily Bulletin piece headlined "Word up! Powell's Books in Portland is its own travel destination."
Allen observed that "if you like to read, this is a place to which a pilgrimage is required at least once in a lifetime, a book lover's Camino de Santiago. It's a travel destination with a Travel section.... Like a golfer who longs to play just once at St. Andrews, a reader can't help but want to roam the aisles at Powell's.... How was my vacation at Powell's? It's lovely there any time of year."