Thanks for the replies so far.

As a little background: our trip to ANC was also in early July, so we experienced 18+ daylight hours there. I grew up in Minnesota so I'm pretty used to the mosquitoes, flies, etc.-- I think.

Re. YYC/YEG/YYZ, I'm thinking that those spots would be fairly easy to reach in the future, but more distant/remote places we would only visit once ever-- on an award-- and that's what I'm looking for with this trip. I've been to YYZ and YUL a handful of times, plus YWG and YVR. Haven't made it to YYC/YEG yet, but I can get there fairly easily given Westjet match fares, etc.

Maybe that helps... but I do appreciate your advice. I promise I'll be a good American.