Old photos - and Detective work
Would it be sheer folly to place old travel photos?
Looking at photos from 2016, I found a fly that I'd never been able to ID. I really wanted to post it and find out what it was, but first I needed to know where it was. I remembered being in Charleston, SC for a Construction Users RoundTable conference. With only a few free hours that first day, I wanted to get to a beach.
Right, a beach in Charleston. Not very specific. I didn't even remember which hotel we used, so I didn't know what was close.
A beacon to guide me - Literally!
Among my photos, there was a lighthouse. A quick search matched it to Morris Island. OK, progress, but a lighthouse can be seen from a lot of places. That's kind of the point, for a lighthouse. And I needed to be sure before I posted anything.
Crowdsourcing...
Reviews for the lighthouse on tourism sites matched my memories and filled in the blanks:
- 'Abundant' on-street parking (Hah! Not that day. The place was jammed. Fortunately, most people were in the bars vs. on the beach.)
- Pubic pay parking rather far away (True, but worth it; safe harbor for my rental car.)
- A paved path to the beach (Check!)
- Drive to the end of Ashley Rd. (Oh yes - and something I can find on a map)
- Concrete proof: other peoples' photos of the same lighthouse from the same angle!
Sheer folly? No, but...
It was Folly Beach.
And the fly I wanted so badly to ID?
Absolutely worth it! I searched so many things at the time, but never dreamed that it might be a robber fly. Makes sense now, but it just didn't look like other robbers I'd seen.