Adventuring in California: Meeting the Local Wildlife

          When you live in the Midwest and don't often leave the state, you hear about the most interesting parts of the other states without knowing exactly what is true or what has been exaggerated simply because it makes a better story.  I am not a fan of poisonous spiders, they are very interesting to study in a book, on the Internet, or in a jar, but I'd rather not meet one roaming freely.  By poisonous, I mean the ones known to cause people harm.

          My grandma was bitten by a brown recluse which made her very sick and left a white scar on her forehead about the size of the tip of my pinky finger.  I don't want to see a brown recluse myself.  Television likes to broadcast about dangerous creatures, too, again because they are interesting, and another poisonous spider popular in stories is the black widow.  I've heard of it living in the southern states like Texas and in the western states like California.  Supposedly they live all over and you need to check your shoes before sticking your feet into them, and never sit on a guardrail as they live inside.  Sometimes really unlucky people will find poisonous spiders in their bathroom towels!

          For anyone who lives in those states or knows more about them than I do you might laugh at that.  As I've grown up I've begun to realize that just because you hear about something, doesn't make it true, and just because a shark bit a surfer doesn't mean all surfers or even many will ever get attacked.  So the tales and warnings I've heard are probably exaggerated.  My mom was nervous about me coming out here because she's heard of mountain lions, bears, spiders and snakes that live in California and aren't afraid to harm us.  Well I listened to her fears but accepted them as fears of a mother.  I probably won't see anything dangerous out here except perhaps one of those infamously bad celebrity drivers.  I feel that I'm in more danger on the roads out here than in the mountains or among the wildlife.

          D and my first adventure out here is a walk around the block and down the street.  I want a better look at the mountains.  We end up leaving toward the end of sunset so I couldn't really see the mountains, but I do stop to admire all the blooming flowers.  I wonder if flowers bloom for a much longer period out here rather than the short day/week or couple week blooming time some flowers have back home.

          As we are walking along the sidewalk we pass through a spider string and brush it away.  Soon we see a huge bug flying about and I get really excited.  It doesn't look like a bee or anything harmful, it looks like a super-sized June bug!  It keeps flying out into the road and back toward the light of the buildings, and I can't catch it midair.  It finally lands high on a wall behind a bush and is sadly out of reach, but at least I know it is just a beetle so if I see another I can catch it without fear of getting bit or stung.  We walk down under the highway and realize there is no good spot to get a picture of the mountains so we turn back.

          Another giant beetle is by the building and this time we catch it.  Oh how cool it is!  I wonder if it is the exact same type of June bug we have at home or if it is a close relative because it is at least 3 times larger than some that I've seen.  D and I both hold it and joke about keeping it as a pet.  Instead I try to place it on a clump of flowers for a photo but it falls right off.  I take a couple more flower pictures and move on.

          I'm trying to get a picture of each kind of new plant I see when I spot movement at the top of a long plant.  I take a couple flash pictures to reveal a giant yellow-ish spider making a web.  D and I watch it in amazement then remember the web string we walked through earlier and I think we both shudder a little.  Neither of us wants one of these guys hitching a ride on us.... ew.

          We move on and I stop to take fewer pictures as I am now feeling slightly creepy crawly at having seen that bugs out here definitely are bigger than at home.  And they say everything is bigger in Texas!  If Texas has even bigger bugs, my visit there will be very brief and I will only visit areas that are so heavily trafficked no giant bugs will want to stick around.

          We are back on our street talking about how creepy and huge that spider was when I notice a familiar shape near the ground.  About two weeks before, we'd visited the Brookfield Zoo, a fantastic zoo for anyone to visit.  If you are ever in Illinois and looking for something to do, go there.  You will not be disappointed.  They have exhibits of all sorts of animals from around the world: elephants, hippos, rhinos, alligators, crocodiles, otters, birds of all kinds, fish of all kinds, chameleons and other lizards, colorful snakes, Galapagos turtles, and all sorts of fuzzy animals, even a few bugs to be seen.  The shape I see reminds me of one of the bugs.  I stop D, turn around and bend down to have a closer look.  No, it can't be.  It's not possible that this bug would just be chilling here below a drainpipe.  I get a better angle and find the mark that proves my instincts correct.

I figure since this is the only one we've seen in three weeks, that I can finally show you, Mom.

          Hello Mom, do you like my new friend?  Our first walk out and about and we find a black widow spider.  I am certain I will have nightmares tonight.  We are now feeling absolutely creeped out from this excursion and our minds start playing tricks on us, making us feel like things are crawling on our skin.  We quickly head back to our apartment; we can't reach the safety of our room, away from all these bugs, quick enough.  But can we make it back safely? Noooo, as D bends down to scratch at an imaginary itch a large bug scurries across our path and disappears into the grass before I can tell what it is.  My best guess is a very big cockroach.  We only have small American cockroaches at home that come in from the farmer's field.  I've never seen one this large that wasn't on television.

          That's it, we've had enough, we are heading inside, possibly showering away the creepies, checking under the covers one more time and we are never living here or going out at night again.  Ok, so that's admittedly over dramatic, but California did just get a big strike against it in my book.  I am still freaking out a bit, I can't believe I just saw an actual wild black widow just a block from where we're sleeping, when I send my California cousin a Facebook message telling him about our discovery.  I love cousins.  He comes back with the best response: first, he's never seen one in all his years living in Santa Monica; second, he warns me not to start thinking about the spider crawling into the room, up the bed, onto my feet and making its way toward my face. Ah, evil humor, what else is family good for?

Our hunt for a mountain view resulted in this.  I must try again somewhere else.

          Despite the excitement we both manage to sleep quite well with no dreams about giant spiders attacking us.  We only go out at night for groceries, though.  I think we'll save the rest of our adventures for daylight.  I just hope I don't see any of the other "monsters" my mom warned me about!