The SF Bay Area is loaded with herps, even in seemingly developed areas. I would imagine that your tech conferences would be near the San Jose/Santa Clara area? Stones throw away from some decent areas for all types of herps.
Yup exactly, Santa Clara. When I touched down in SF I popped open youtube and saw some pacific gophers found in urban Santa Clara and as I didn't have much time I just wandered around looking for them instead of heading for the hills. Probably better that I didn't find anything that trip as I hadn't purchased an out-of-state fishing license.
Looking to get down to the Mojave/Sonoran to herp this September and snorkel with some leopard sharks near San Diego. I'm also going to do a fun "herp for yellow" trip in late march where I'll look for the yellower morphs of the desert striped whipsnake in the rogue river valley area and then cross CA's northern border to see if I can find some of those lovely yellow shasta alligator lizards. I haven't herped CA much so if I'm lucky I might rack up a lot of lifers this year.
(note to self: book a charter to Todos Santos Island for herrarae)
You are looking for flowering golf balls? Super cool! :)
Speaking of baja islands, did you see Dāv Kaufman of HerpersTV's adventures to Santa Catalina Island? Boy would I love to see that endemic side-blotch lizard and night snake. I know some tour guides with permits that go down there anually so you don't have to petition the government for access. One of these days...
