General Discussion

Guthrie launched the NBC morning show’s new segment series, Homecoming Today, on Wednesday, November 5, by bringing viewers along on a trip to her hometown of Tucson, Arizona. “When people ask me, ‘Where are you from?’ I’m always proud when I say, ‘Tucson, Arizona.’ I grew up there, went to college there, my mom still lives there, and honestly, a part of me has really never left,” she said in Studio 1A. “So, thanks to our sponsor, Visit Tucson, I got a chance to go home to show you everything from the giants of the desert to the people who raised me, and really, why Tucson is unlike anywhere else in the world.”

In the prerecorded package, Guthrie did everything from taking in the city’s stunning desert landscape to helping an artist paint a mural on a building to visiting a variety of animals at the Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum.

Guthrie also visited her alma mater, the University of Arizona, where she was greeted by the school’s president, band, cheerleaders, and students. At her old Pi Beta Phi sorority house, the organization’s current members surprised Guthrie with the sorority’s class photos from the 1991 to ’92 school year. “Big hair, don’t care,” Guthrie said of her throwback pic.

However, the most sentimental part of the trip for Guthrie was when she grabbed a meal with her loved ones. “By far, my favorite part about Tucson is family,” Guthrie said in a voiceover. “El Charro is the oldest family-owned Mexican restaurant in America, and the perfect place to catch up with mine — my mom, Nancy, and sister, Annie.”