Having never been much of a big city girl, my Midwestern roots exuberated from my fingertips as I blindly stumbled out of the JFK airport last weekend.

Caitlyn Webster | realthairecipes.com

My desire to explore the exotic world of vegan bliss (and a good buddy from Brooklyn) lured me to the Big Apple for my first real New York experience. And I must say… I was not disappointed.

After enjoying the Brooklyn bar scene and catching a few short hours of rest, all I could focus on was my excitement to  experience some of the serious vegan dining I’d only ever read about. After 50 blocks of walking, six Picasso painting gawkings, four New Yorkers laughing at me for suggesting a Times Square visit, three Carrie Bradshaw daydreams, and one mind-blowing plate of drunken noodles at an East village restaurant… I finally took a seat in the dining nook where garlic-smothered dreams are made of: Blossom, an upscale all-vegan restaurant in Manhattan. There were cracked pepper “cream” sauces, delicate pastas with trendy onion straw decor, seductively slow roasted vegetables, perfectly seasoned potatoes swimming in mushroom gravy, and so much more. I ate, drank, and repeated like it was my job and then seriously considered chaining myself to the table leg so they couldn’t make me leave without a fight.

Eventually I flew back to my Hampton Roads reality and drove home to my non-5th Avenue apartment across from the non-Andy Warhol themed museum and continued with a very non-NYC day where I wore flats, drove a car, and went to bed at 10 pm. When I washed the city off my face that night, I realized how lucky I was, and not just because my roomy loft costs less than a cramped studio in the big city.

While I may not have Blossom, Central Park, or the drunken noodles of my dreams, I have so much to be thankful for as a young vegan just by living in Hampton Roads. Small businesses that cater to my palette and compassionate choices, the largest animal rights organization in the world right off of Colley Ave., and independent restaurants that support my decisions on a daily basis by providing me, my co-workers, and everyone in the HR veg community with delectable rewards for our pro-animal lifestyles. Not to mention a scenic ocean view and sticky sweet summers that the thawing part of my chilly Michigan heart loves so much.

So, city of mine, while I’m venturing off to DC next week and am sure to indulge in the non-dairy elegance of Sticky Fingers Bakery and the meat-free magic of Java Green, I promise I’ll return to you. You may not have underground transportation, be speckled with skyscrapers, or even host the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade… but you get me. And for that, my cruelty-free heart is thankful.