OUR STORY
A Lifetime of Travel. A New Chapter Together
Travel has been part of our lives for as long as we can remember.
Long before The Last State First, there were family road trips, waterski tournaments, cross-country adventures, work conferences, RVs, and countless miles between home and somewhere new.
Our paths started in different places, but eventually they crossed. Now we are revisiting America together, one state, one story, and one adventure at a time.
WHERE IT STARTED
George’s Story
I was born in Kansas City, Missouri, in 1971, and when I was five, my family moved to Raintree Lake in Lee’s Summit. Growing up on a lake meant spending a lot of time on the water. Before long, waterskiing became a major part of my childhood.
We spent every summer traveling throughout the Midwest for waterski tournaments. But those competitions were only part of it. My childhood was filled with family road trips, camping trips, long drives, and discovering places far beyond home.
As I got older, the traveling continued. My dad grew dahlias, and when I say he grew dahlias, I’m talking about more than 100 plants each year that produced thousands of flowers. What do you do with thousands of dahlias? You show them, of course!
He exhibited his flowers at state and national shows all around the country. In my twenties, I joined him on road trips that took us as far as Kalispell, Montana, and Halifax, Nova Scotia. On our trip to Montana, we explored Banff, Alberta, and Yellowstone. On our way home from Halifax, we traveled down the eastern seaboard from Maine through Washington, D.C., before crossing back through the middle of the country.
Later, my career gave me additional reasons to travel. Although they were work trips, I always found a way to see the sights. When I became Executive Director of the National Animal Care & Control Association, working nationally meant lots of airports, rental cars, conferences, meetings, and cities all across America.
Without ever setting out to visit all 50 states, I was slowly getting very close.
HER SIDE OF THE STORY
Mary’s Story
I’m Mary, the better half of George. He may dispute this, but this is my bio, so I win.
Born and raised in sunny San Diego, my love of travel started when I was just a kid. My family of five piled into a van that my grandfather had converted into an RV and set off on a cross-country adventure. It was unforgettable, probably a little chaotic, and apparently all it took to give me a lifelong itch to see what’s beyond the next state line.
I really earned my travel chops in my early 20s when work began taking me all over the country. Those trips gave me the chance to experience just how different, interesting, and sometimes wonderfully weird America can be.
I’ve experienced the absolute madness of Mardi Gras in Louisiana, gotten a taste of the very different ways of life across Texas, enjoyed the nightlife and music of Tennessee, and explored countless places in between. Along the way, I’ve learned that some of the best parts of traveling aren’t just the destinations, but the people, food, traditions, and stories you discover when you get there.
TWO ROADS MEET
Phoenix, 2014
In 2014, two lives already filled with travel happened to cross paths in Phoenix. We were both there for work, attending a conference, and neither of us could have known that the trip would change a lot more than our frequent flyer miles.
There was just one complication. Mary lived in San Diego, and George lived in Kansas City.
So we did what came naturally. We traveled.
Over the next year, we essentially dated across America, finding ways to meet while attending conferences and traveling for work. Las Vegas, New Orleans, Phoenix, Seattle, and Virginia Beach became part of our story, along with plenty of trips between our hometowns of San Diego and Kansas City.
In 2015, George moved to California, finally putting an end to the long-distance part of the relationship. The traveling, however, was just getting started.
Together, we continued exploring the country, revisiting favorite places and discovering new ones. Somewhere along the way, all those childhood road trips, family adventures, work conferences, airports, and miles on the road began leading toward something neither of us had originally planned.
THE 50TH STATE
Alaska
After a lifetime of travel, there was still one state George had never visited: Alaska.
In 2026, we decided it was finally time. We boarded the Star Princess in Seattle for a journey through Alaska that would take us to Ketchikan, Glacier Bay, Juneau, and Skagway before returning through Victoria, British Columbia.
There was something fitting about making this trip together. Twelve years earlier, on September 4, 2014, we had met in Phoenix while traveling for work. On September 4, 2026, we were together in Alaska, celebrating that anniversary while George experienced his 50th state.
But Alaska turned out to be more than the last state on a list.
Somewhere between the mountains, glaciers, whales, eagles, small towns, and miles of incredible scenery, an idea began to take shape.
What if the 50th state wasn’t the end of the journey?
What if it was the beginning?
THE JOURNEY CONTINUES
The Last State First
Visiting all 50 states could have been the end of the story. Instead, it gave us a reason to start over.
The Last State First is our journey to revisit America together. Some places will be familiar. Others will be completely new to one of us. We’ll return to places George remembers from childhood road trips, waterski tournaments, family adventures, and years of work travel. We’ll revisit places Mary discovered during her own travels, and we’ll explore destinations neither of us has experienced together.
This time, we’re slowing down.
We want to experience the places beyond the interstate exits and airport terminals. We’ll explore the towns, landscapes, food, history, people, and experiences that give each destination its character. And when we can, we’ll look back at what we remember from earlier visits and see what has changed.
There isn’t a race to finish. We’ve already done that.
Now we get to enjoy the journey.
Come Along for the Ride
We’re not entirely sure where this road will take us next, and that’s part of the fun. Follow along as we revisit all 50 states, share what we discover, and see America again through a different lens.