Welcome to The Roads Traveled!
I’m Mary Gilbert, a writer, traveler, storyteller, and blogger sharing stories about people, places, and passions. While I live in Charlotte, NC, home is wherever I am at the time, and travel begins as soon as I walk out my front door, be it a spur-of-the-moment jaunt or an extended stay to more fully immerse myself in the local culture.
On The Roads Traveled blog, I tell stories from the road inspired by moments of adventure, discovery, and transformation. I indulge in artisan food and wine, examine art and culture, explore history and happenings, and more.
From learning to cook like a Provençal chef in Maubec, France, to clinking glasses with a pioneer woman wine maker in Napa Valley. From hiking the otherworldly Joshua Tree National Park to standing in the silent shadows of skyscraping windmills in Palm Springs. From absorbing art at the stellar San Francisco Museum of Modern Art to hand-printing scarves using common plants in Sonoma County, CA. From launching my snorkeling debut on St. John to being locked – literally – in the Tower of London.
My pursuit of great stories began in childhood with my bedtime pleas to my parents to “tell me a story.” I developed my love of storytelling into a career in public relations and special events, where I conveyed the stories of my corporate employers and consulting clients to help them build brands, forge relationships, and excel in crowded markets. As a freelance writer, my feature articles and content run the gamut of topics and appear in a variety of print and online media.
Maybe you think about travel as author Hans Christian Andersen did — a means to live fully:
“To move, to breathe, to fly, to float,
To gain all while you give,
To roam the roads of lands remote,
To travel is to live.”
Count me in with Andersen.
I hope you’ll join me on the road!
P.S. With me most often is my husband and favorite travel partner, Bill Whitlatch.
Hey Mar and Bill,
We’ve just – belatedly – subscribed and caught up with your first set of blog posts. Outstanding job so far chronicling your domestic adventure….we are fascinated and – you must know – more than a bit envious…..and totally entertained. So glad the mtn lions, ticks and snakes did not materialize.
We already miss you and look forward to connecting when our paths can cross again. Meanwhile, safe travels out there…. you are our thoroughly modern version of Lewis and Clark who you might remember that Thomas Jefferson charged to only come back with the very best trip diary ever assembled. You’re on your way…..the Golden Gate was your Northwest Passage.
Stokes and Linda
Hi, Linda and Stokes. Many thanks for your kind comments. We are having a wonderful time. We miss you, too. We look forward to getting together and hearing stories about your travels as well.