The Traveling Vegetarian

2009 – What a Year!

Posted on 31. Dec, 2009 by Yvonne Smith in Blog, Travel

Dear Readers,

For the last few weeks I have been musing over the last year and how fantastic it’s been.  Here are just some of the highlights:

I started the year with my first vlog and a road trip across the country with a friend.  Ate some incredible food, met up with fabulous people and saw a good portion of the U.S.

I was interviewed by VeganCulinaryExperience.com and VegetarianWomen.com.

Traveled to Phoenix and Seattle before heading out to Australia for the month of March.  What an experience that was!  I ate so much great food and met so many awesome Aussies and fellow travelers.  Check out some of my photos here.

In April I took a road trip from E. Lansing, MI to Oklahoma City, OK.  I was home for a day, then I went to Tahoe for a weekend getaway with my best girlfriends from high school.

One of the biggest things to happen to me all year was appearing on the cover of the Nashville Scene in May.  That photo opened a lot of doors for me and was so much fun!  I’m so thankful for that.

Speaking of photos, I went to Bonnaroo in June and ended up on the Maxim Facebook pictorial Babes of Bonnaroo 2.  My bikini photo from the Nashville Scene also earned the honor of one of the Hottest Girls on Facebook at Maxim.com.  Ecorazzi and Vegetarian Star picked up the story as well.  Fun!

My site was nominated for the second year in a row for a VegNews Veggie Award (Favorite Web Site) and was also named one of the Top Ten Vegetarian Web Sites.  Thank you, VegNews, for your continued support!

Summer also brought my second trip to Vegetarian Summerfest, where I got to speak about vegan travel, reconnect with old friends, make lots of new ones, and witness one of the best weddings ever.

AR 2009 was a blast too!  I met some of my vegan idols, had a great time with awesome folks I had met the year before and I interviewed my good friends Michelle Taylor and Robert Cheeke.

Michelle interviewed me for her online TV show, Vegan Break, and I also appeared on the Robert Cheeke Show.  I had the privilege of speaking with Ed Coffin on the Eating Consciously Podcast and Vance Lehmkuhl’s VegCast #70.

In September I was part of the Tennessean experiment Vegan for a Month.  I got to be the unofficial Vegan Lifestyle Coach for five members of the Tennessean staff as they ate vegan for thirty days.  It was a lot of fun, and great exposure for veganism.

September also brought me to Toronto for the 25th Annual Vegetarian Food Fair.  So much fun!  I got to hang with some of my favorite vegans as well as some old friends I have known online for years.  Great trip!  Toronto is a fabulous city and very vegan friendly.  Can’t wait to go back.

October was a busy travel month.  I went to Portland, where I spent time with family and hung out with my friend Robert Cheeke.  Robert and I saw Gary Vaynerchuk at Powell’s and of course ate some amazing food.  I also got to speak about Why It’s Easy to be Vegan at the Central Florida VegFest, which was a great experience.  VooDoo Fest in New Orleans during Halloween weekend was super fun too.

I came to Nashville in 2000 to pursue my singing career and this year I started working on my first album with Producer/Guitarist Extraordinaire Biff Watson.  Vance previewed my first single “Let Go” on VegCast #75 and I’ll be releasing more music via MySpace and iTunes very soon.  Yay!

November and December were pretty quiet as far as travel is concerned, but I found lots of amazing vegan food right here in Nashville, as you can see by my latest blogs.  Nashville is becoming more and more vegan friendly and it’s exciting to watch and experience!

I am so thankful for my life.  I get to travel all over the world eating great vegan food, I have amazing friends and family and a rich, full life in Nashville.  In just one year I got to eat in these forty cities:

Memphis, TN
Plano, TX
Austin, TX
Big Bend, TX
Tucson, AZ
Joshua Tree, CA
Palm Springs, CA
Los Angeles, CA
Phoenix, AZ
Tempe, AZ
Sedona, AZ
Asheville, NC
Seattle, WA
Sydney, NSW, AuS
Manly, NSW, AUS
Melbourne, Victoria, AUS
Brisbane, Queensland, AUS
Mullumbimby, NSW, Australia
Gold Coast, Queensland, AUS
Hamilton Island, Queensland, AUS
Hot Springs, NC
Knoxville, TN
East Lansing, MI
Joplin, MO
Oklahoma City, OK
Truckee, CA
Incline Village, NV
Oakland, CA
San Francisco, CA
Manchester, TN
Johnstown, PA
Santa Rosa, CA
Napa, CA
Toronto, ON, Canada
Atlanta, GA
Portland, OR
Denver, CO
Orlando, FL
New Orleans, LA
Nashville, TN

Thank you all so much for your continued support.  2010 is looking to be amazing and I look forward to sharing my experiences with you.  Happy New Year!

Tags: 2009, 25th Annual Vegetarian Food Fair, AR 2009, Biff Watson, Bonnaroo, Central Florida VegFest, EatingConsciously.com, Ecorazzi, Ed Coffin, Gary Vaynerchuk, Let Go, Maxim, Michelle Taylor, Nashville, New Orleans, Road Trip, Robert Cheeke, Robert Cheeke Show, Tennessean, Top Ten Vegetarian Sites, Toronto, Traveling Vegetarian, Vance Lehmkuhl, Vegan for a Month, Vegan Travel, Vegan Wedding, VeganBreak.com, VegCast, VegCast.com, Vegetarian Star, Vegetarian Summerfest, VegNews, Voodoo Fest, Why It's Easy to Be Vegan, Yvonne Smith