Andy likes to take pictures of everything, the good and the bad. It’s all interesting, just not the usual stuff you see about Kaua’i. Sonja thought we should still post it, so people get a more complete picture.
Trolls aren’t the only ones living under the Kapa’a bike path bridges:
Remote deserted beach with rusting car. This must’ve been here for 30-40 years. And just think of the pollution from the gas and oil:
In places with less coverage (Haena, Kee) there are still working pay phones, and I’ve used them more than once, and I’ve been grateful for them. But no one has used this one in downtown Lihue for years, and no one has thought to remove it:
Stairwell and boarded up basement behind a derelict buiding. I don’t know if people just throw trash in here, or more likely it just blows in from the park nearby and keeps on accumulating:
Other side of the derelict building, all boarded up and fenced off. This is an old building belonging to the State. I wonder if it was once the main state building on Kaua’i. I’ll have to look into its history. But now, it’s just a graffitti magnet and run-down eyesore–including the old sign by the road.
Another state building, but this one is actually being renovated and still under construction:
Rice Street, the main street in Lihue, the island’s main town. Before we moved to Kaua’i, we had heard or read that most of the utility wires were put underground after being knocked down by Hurricane Iniki in 1992. This is not true at all, there are ugly powerlines everywhere:
An old and almost forgotten cemetary. Some of the tombstones are merely weathered yet well-tended:
But others were totally abandoned and taken over by the forest (before being reclaimed but not fixed):
Cars rotting on someone’s property, in plain sight of the street, and not that bad a neighborhood. You know there’s a problem when you see this and think: at least they are nice cars and not totally stripped and rusting.
Another ugly side of Kauai: we got rear ended in a hit-and-run accident, probably a junk car with no registration or insurance–you see them around, not sure why the police can’t see them just as easily and get them off the road. $1000 worth of damage, loss of sense of security, but fortunately no permanent injuries:
A ray of hope: for Earth Day, we removed 2 electric-car-loads of trash from one of our favorite dog-walking beaches:
But there is plenty more trash on the beaches, and even more in the ocean waiting to wash ashore…
