Speaking of San Diego, first time we visited Texas, outside the motel door I saw the wife and kids squatting around some kind of critter. "Look at the cute pinching bug," my wife said.
I yanked them away from the scorpion and began what would be Family Safety Lecture No. 4,812 out of an eventual series that now rivals the number of posts in the Aces High Bulletin Board.
Must have worked. Nobody ever got "pinched."
Now son lives in Kaliforniya and I don't have to worry about anything except occasional mountain lion pouncing on jogger.
Much safer than the naive pilgrims in the backwoods of Alaska who try to make nice with grizzly bears. That's what happens if ya read too much Goldilocks.
CA to TX to AK -- just a minor hijacking.