When one of you, in this case the one aged five, doesn't know that's what you're looking for.
It's about time for the local tarantulas to migrate and I've never seen them doing it, so this weekend I wanted to go over and search for them at Palo Alto's Foothills Park, where my friend Eva had one all but crawl over her foot last fall. I knew that Michael would refuse to go if I told him that's what we were looking for, but I thought he'd also be really interested if we just 'happened' to come across one. Plus he has good scary animal finding karma.
So I didn't tell him about the plan, instead describing it as a generic 'explore.' Fine by him.
We saw plenty of wildlife, including ridiculously tame deer,
and some very large and very dopey lizards.
There were also beetles, skippers, hawks etc. etc. But no tarantulas this time, alas. I need to read up more on where exactly and when to find them.
The highlight for Michael was clambering up the dry creek beds and then creating a camp out of sticks in the meadow. For me, it was seeing the Coyote Bushes in full flower. This much-maligned native has a distinctive scent when damp -- one that brings me right back to the coastal foothill chaparral whenever I catch it, which is why I like it so much and why I have one in my yard. The flowers are important for the native bee population as they bridge a period in which few other natives are in bloom.
I noticed two kinds of Coyote Bushes growing together at Foothills Park, one with white flowers like this and the other exactly the same but with a distinctive yellow tint. I much prefer the white.