4 more pictures above in notes!

Every single time Steve and I have paused to look at Portia, we have commented on how beautiful she is, and how extremely cool she looks. In this picture, Portia was about 3" in length from leg-to-leg tip. Not as large as I supposed she would get (5"), but still quite large and totally awesome!

About Orb Weaving Spiders (From Wiki):
The typical orb-weaver spiders (family Araneidae) are the most common group of builders of spiral wheel-shaped webs often found in gardens, fields and forests. Their common name is taken from the round shape of this typical web, and the taxon was formerly also referred to as the Orbiculariae. Orb-weavers have eight similar eyes, hairy or spiny legs, and no stridulating organs. The Araneidae family is cosmopolitan, including many well-known large or brightly colored garden spiders. The 3,006 species in 168 genera worldwide make Araneidae the third-largest family of spiders known (behind Salticidae and Linyphiidae). The orb-weavers include over 10,000 species and make up about 25% of spider diversity.

If you would like to know more about this beautiful species, Wiki has a great page here: Wikipedia: Argiope Aurantia