Visitor to my yard

Went to go step up on the stones in my backyard that create a landscaped corner and caught sight of this. Gave me a bit of a heart attack! Though fairly confident he was harmless, I worried until I was able to find him on the internet. I'm pretty sure he is a checkered garter snake. Hubby wanted to pick him up to show our daughter. He was very happy I didn't let him when I read about the snake later. Seems they like to spread (nasty, smelly, lingering) feces on you when you pick them up to discourage you from wanting to keep them captured.