People lose things, like cell phones, keys, glasses and cameras. We, as well as most shops and restaurants on the Hill, store found objects people drop off in a lost and found basket.

Some orphaned items hang out for years in that basket and locating their owners likely won’t occur, even with the classified ads we place.

Recently, Jack and I thought some of the more valuable items — cameras and phones — needed to find their owners. So we undertook a bit of sleuthing, starting with a fairly nice Nikon camera found on the side of Fern Valley Road about three weeks ago.

We downloaded the photos from the memory card and explored each one for clues. They mostly contained images of a couple on the Ernie Maxwell Trail and a few of Idyllwild shops.

Then a couple of photos showed the pair in individual photos sitting before a fireplace with a partial view of a painting above the mantle. Knowing we probably were seeing tourists on vacation, this scene likely portrayed a motel room.

Luckily for us, innkeepers like to show the inside of each room on their websites.

We started with Fireside Inn, then Creekstone Inn, then Mile High Lodge and it was there, at the last photo, that we viewed the same fireplace and painting above the mantle.

We dashed over to Mile High, Mary was able to locate the name and phone number of the couple who had stayed in that room on the photo dates.

I spoke to a very excited owner whose poor orphaned camera is back in her hands, along with photo memories of a wonderful trip to Idyllwild.

Having lost many important things over the years, we were so happy to find the Nikon’s home.

Becky Clark,
Editor