Rainy days

Just like the title says, it's been raining A LOT here lately so I haven't been able to take many photos.  It's supposed to rain most of this weekend too.  I may not be able to take many photos as a result.

But here are a few photos I took the past few days:

 

This is the gate to the Japanese Garden in San Mateo's Central Park.  The park closes at 4 pm.  I took this photo 5 minutes after the gates closed.   I like this image because it looks like there are eyes in the gate and by staring into them you can see what's going on in the garden behind the closed gates.  Oh the bad thing... this photo is off center so the image is a bit tilted.  Oh well, it's the only one I took.

This is the Bay Bridge from the Embarcadero walkway.  This is a photo looking eastward.  The bridge is connected to Yerba Buena Island. The port for the city of Oakland is visible in the background.

 This was taken while I was walking down the Embarcadero toward the Ferry Building ( the building with the clock tower ). 

 The clock tower at the Ferry Building.  Notice I took this photo at 1:10 am!  That's why there's no one around walking along the Embarcadero.

 The Bay Bridge from another angle.  

I could have been arrested for taking this photo.  I walked about a mile and a half from where I parked my car, along a road that had no sidewalk.  I had to walk through a ditch that was covered with broken branches and garbage.  Then I had to walk across a cement wall that was about 20 feet above the pavement.  The cement wall was probably only 2 feet across so I had to watch my steps to avoid falling.  Also, I had to avoid being seen by any police cars.  Technically, I think I was trespassing on government land since there's a U. S. Coast Guard Station on the island.  One police car actually appeared on the road below me while I was walking on top of that concrete wall above the roadway.  

Finally, I arrived at the spot where I could see the bridge but unfortunately, there were all kinds of big trees blocking my view.   So from there, I climbed up a hillside ( probably another 12 feet ) and leaned my tripod against the hill while I was lying down on bits of shrubbery.  I was literally lying across a patch of dead plants.  And to top it all off, once I took this photo it started pouring rain!  From there I had to pack up my equipment and walk all the way back through the rain! At least the resulting photo was worth all the trouble.