The Island of No Bears.

Summer here is glorious. The bears think so too.

Two bear cubs broke into our house a few summers back. We later learned from an Alaska Dept of Fish & Game officer that our property is situated on a thruway for animals coming south into town through Auke Bay.

Over the years, Craig and I have had dozens of bear encounters on the trails around Juneau.

Before I knew him, a wolf stalked Craig and his dog on the West Glacier trail.

So when we play outside in the yard, it's always with our antenna up. When the cubs showed up with their brother and mama to raid our kitchen, it was the middle of the day (we weren't home; I'd left a window open -- lesson learned).

Bears have been known to swim from Admiralty Island, where their concentrated population is the highest in the world, to Douglas Island or the mainland. A friend of ours once passed one paddling around a mile from shore near Sitka.

They don't seem as interested in the tiny islands, though. And sometimes, when we want to relax and let the kids run wild, we hop in the boat and that's where we go.