Thats one fugly spider. *shivers and pulls his hindpaws off the floor*

That looks like a female golden orb weaver. I may be totally wrong with just this view. They are great for catching lots of insects!

Funny note - the males are so very small and have to approach the female so very carefully, stroking her or she will attack and kill him.

Considering the environment, it's probably a wolf spider.
It sure as hell looks like one, anyway...

the spider is bigger then my paw

You must have a tiny hand.
But ya, I'm damn certain that it's a wolf spider or something similar.

Behold:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wolf_spider

thats not the spider I saw

These aren't the droids.
I wonder what it was...

I'm guessing that that's SOME kind of hunting spider. Those legs look too meaty for it to be purely a weaver.

Yay, I love spiders :D
And snakes and much other animals much people dont like *giggles*

It's a member of Genus Dolomedes (Fishing Spiders) from the Nursery Web Spider family.

I can't narrow it down to species from this photo.

They're often mistaken for wolf spiders. However, they have different eye patterns and behaviors. Also, wolf spiders can't climb that well. Typically you'll find the fishing spiders in the vertical plane like this, while wolf spiders typically stick to the horizontal.

In florida we just call them water spiders. lol