Kids' Activities in Portland, Oregon: Powell's Books

Located in downtown Portland, Oregon between 10th and 11th avenues on Burnside - Powell's Books takes up a full city block. Powell's Books (1005 W Burnside, Portland, Oregon, 97209) is the largest used and new bookstore in the world. It has seven floors, each of which takes up a city block, that are stocked full of used and new books.

The kids love going to Powell's. I admit, I do too. It's a reader's dream. Have you ever walked into a Barnes and Noble or Border's Books and thought, "Wow, this is a big bookstore with a lot of books." Well, imagine a store that's about 20 times bigger than any of those stores. Make sure when you arrive with the family that you grab a store map, and that you have a meeting area and time - as everybody is sure to wander off in different directions down the aisles.

The children's book section is a huge. And of course it is divided up into various sections of kids' books. There are books for young children, toddlers, school age, pre-teen, and teenagers. My three year old loves the kids' book section. It's bright and he sees all of his favorite characters on books and he loves to discover new characters. Right now, his favorite section is the dinosaur book section where he gets to roar at the pictures of T-Rex.

If you're feeling really enterprising - have your kids gather up books that they no longer read and take them along on your outing to Powell's. Powell's buys more than 3,000 books everyday from customers. When you take them in, their book buyers will look through what you have brought in and make you an offer to which you can take cash or store credit for future purchases.

Because of the fantastic downtown location of Powell's - it works well as a family day trip with the kids. There are lots of great restaurants within walking distance as well as other shops to walk through and look at. There's even a Ben and Jerry's ice cream not to far from Powell's. If you don't want to leave the comfort of all those books - Powell's even has a coffee show and cafe on the main floor.

Parking at Powell's can sometimes be a little difficult. They do have a parking garage - though it is rather small, considering the size of the store - and there is parking on most of the streets around Powell's. Another option would be to make it a real exciting family excursion and ride the Max train downtown. My son loves riding the Max train. A simple day for us is to hop on the Max, ride to Powell's and spend time in the books, and then walk across the street to the pizza parlor.

Powell's City of Books in Portland, Oregon is a must see for tourists traveling to Portland, as well as a great family destination for residents. Turn the video games off, pack up the kids and head down to Powell's for a nice family day out.