"I was photographing damselflies near a pond, & had noticed (& avoided) a large but empty spiderweb, when this MONSTROUS spider came swarming up out of the grass and onto the web practically under my nose. It's ~2"" (5 cm) long, including legs. Also called a Common Garden Spider."
http://bugguide.net/node/view/707121/bgimage Argiope aurantia Golden garden orb weaver This observation and photo were made by Ken Yanagida and sent to nature@nhm.org.