Ludwigs have fantastic trip to Alaska
Ron and Kathleen Ludwig achieved their goal of visiting all 50 states in July when they left Florence to travel to Alaska.
The Ludwigs previously had visited 48 states and only were lacking stops in North Dakota and Alaska.
The couple headed up U.S.-77, keeping a northward path through Nebraska and South and North Dakota, arriving in Strasburg, N.D., where they visited the birthday place of Lawrence Welk.
They entered Saskatchewan, Canada and headed west through beautiful farming country where they saw fields of Canola and Flax growing for miles and miles without ceasing. Continuing westward through Alberta and British Columbia, they got on the Alaska Highway at Dawson Creek and continued westward through Yukon until reaching Alaska. The Ludwigs were glad to leave the liter measurement behind and get back to gallons.
The first city in Alaska was Tok, then the Ludwigs went to Santa's Workshop at the North Pole. Other places of interest included the Alaska Pipeline at Fairbanks, Anchorage, Wasilla, Palmer, Soldotna, Kenai, Homer, Seward, Haines, Juneau, Skagway, and Hyder.
They traveled 53 miles in Denali National Park and saw much wild life including grizzly bears, moose, and caribou. Most memorable was Mount McKinley which rises 20,3000 feet in the air. It is so high it makes its own weather and 80% of the time is cloud covered. The Ludwigs were lucky to get to see it in all its splendor.
Wildlife was one of the reasons for their going to Alaska. They saw a grizzly sow and three cubs fishing for salmon. They also got to see salmon spawning and the bears catching and eating them. They also saw eagles catching salmon and very quickly filleting them with their claws. On the trip to Juneau they saw humpback whales breaching and report it to be quite a sight.
The Ludwigs feel most blessed to have had the opportunity to see all the beauty of the mountains, flowers, and wildlife in such a beautiful state, which was their 50th state to visit. While they were there, they had 21 hours of daylight each day.
They were gone seven weeks and traveled 9,700 miles in their fifth wheel camper.
