Kamiakin grad nabs national award for blogging about food and travel

Seattle-based travel blogger and Richland native Soleil Roth has been named one of the nation’s top travel blogger by Saveur magazine.

Roth, the daughter of Mary and Coke Roth, was a finalist in the magazine’s prestigious 2018 Blog Awards, grabbing the reader’s choice award for Best Travel blog.

Roth documents her travels at Somewhere Soleil, which has become a repository of notes, observations and recommendations based on her travels both in the U.S. and across the globe.

Roth, 23, said she was confused when Saveur first notified her she was a finalist in a field of 23,000 nominees.

In fact, she wasn’t even sure how or why Saveur was honoring her.

She’s launched a separate food blog with her roommate and wondered if that’s what had caught the magazine’s attention. It turns out her father, a Tri-City attorney and wine connoisseur, had nominated her blog.

A Kamiakin High School graduate, Soleil Roth moved to Seattle to attend the University of Washington.

She now works as an associate membership director for The Riveter, a co-working startup serving female entrepreneurs.

But she’s also a passionate traveler who said she used to draw a blank when people would ask her for recommendations about where to eat or what to visit.

Her blog Somewhere Soleil was born as an online diary to help her record her memories and share them with friends and family. Her Instagram account has about 1,200 followers.

The blog is full of useful information about her stops.

Her most recent trip to Nashville even inspired a nod to her hometown. Nashville brought out her country roots, she noted.

In other posts, she offers her thoughts on the best way to spend three days in Seattle (Pike Place market, Starbucks Roastery, take in the view from Columbia Tower, not the Space Needle, rent kayaks and paddle boards on Lake Union), her observations from a family trek to Peru and useful hints for traveling in Vietnam (bring a long skirt or pants or something to cover your knees and shoulders at temples and pagodas).

Roth hasn’t turned her attention to the Tri-Cities — yet — but said she’s looking forward to trying some of the newer non-chain restaurants that have opened.

But she noted the Mid-Columbia has something Seattle lacks: Authentic Mexican food.

She’d recommend “any taco truck in Pasco.”

Saveur selected it and a dozen other blogs from a pool of 2,000 nominations for its awards.

The finalists gathered for three days in Memphis in November, where Roth said she had a chance to rub shoulders with bloggers she admires and never imagined she’d have a chance to meet.

Inspired, she’s making the blog a higher priority and hopes to build a larger following. It’s more than a hobby but not quite an occupation.

“I’m not planning on getting lost and becoming a social media user and influencer,” she said.

Roth and her roommate blog about food at The Little White Table.

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This story was originally published December 4, 2018 at 12:48 PM.