Trip to Elmira and First Adventure
A/N: My wife and I did these adventures this last summer (August 2014). Except for the Gulfstream from Teterboro. I am not a famous, best-selling author that can afford to rent a plane at $6K/hour. :)
Disclaimer: The characters are the property of Andrew W. Marlowe and ABC television. No infringement is intended.
Shortly they were airborne heading for upstate New York. The sun had risen over the city and was glistening off of the Hudson. The sky was clear and the flight was smooth to Elmira.
The flight attendant brought a number of tasty pastries. Apple fritters, various types of Danish, bagels with flavored cream cheese, and of course, Kate's favorite bear claws were available.
"Castle, there is enough to feed a small army here."
"We need to be fortified. We have some walking to do this morning," Castle replied.
"Walking? Where are we going we need to be walking?"
"In due time, detective, in due time. Now eat your bear claw." Castle insolently rejoined.
Beckett selected a bear claw and a bagel with some honey pecan cream cheese.
"Castle, this tastes wonderful."
"Only the best for you, Beckett," Castle lovingly said.
"Thank you, Castle. I can never thank you enough."
"At the risk of being a broken record, your smile is enough for me, Kate," Castle said as he brushed a hair from her face.
He gazed at her with this intensely loving look. Then he leaned in for a kiss. Beckett wrapped her arms around Castle's neck and kissed him again. Her tongue crossed his lips and he passionately opened to let their tongues tangle. They continued the kiss for a moment only to part to breathe.
Foreheads pressing together, Castle softly spoke, "Beckett, as much as I would like my mile-high club ticket punched, if I don't get you fed, I'll have an angry, hungry detective on my hands and you won't have energy for the walking. We don't have time for both." Castle said waggling his eyebrows.
"Is that what the cool kids call it now, 'having your ticket punched'? Castle, you presume much."
"Oh, please, Beckett. You would love to be a mile-high club member."
"Who says I'm not, Castle?" Beckett teased.
"Make me jealous, Beckett?" Castle scowled, "And I wanted to give you a first time."
"Maybe later we can have our ticket punched together, on the flight back perhaps?"
Castle brightened up on the thought.
After they ate, the flight attendant said, "You may want to freshen up quickly, we'll be landing soon."
Beckett went back to the lavatory to freshen her makeup and hair. She wondered what adventure her favorite author had planned for her. "What sights, sounds and smells are in store," she thought.
The captain came on the intercom, "We'll be landing in about 5 minutes, please take your seats and buckle up. Thank you for flying with us today, Detective Beckett and Mr. Castle."
Beckett returned to her seat. As she did, Castle looked up at her with a loving look and asked, "Everything okay Beckett?"
She smiled back at Castle and said, "Everything is wonderful, Castle."
The pilot smoothly landed the plane on the runway and taxied to a corner of the airport where the general aviation aircraft parked. At the other end Beckett could see a small terminal with a couple of commercial airlines jets standing wait at the gates.
"Obviously a former air force pilot," Castle stated.
"Huh? Why do you say that?"
"You know how they say 'stick the landing'?"
"Yeah."
"Naval aviators have to land on aircraft carriers and the tailhook has to catch the arresting wire. They are taught to precisely land on the carrier deck and they generally hit the deck hard or 'stick the landing'. Air force pilots land on long runways so they usually don't land as hard. The smooth, gentle landing with a bounce is more like an air force pilot. He lands almost as if he is saying 'excuse me' for bumping into the ground. A naval aviator will hit the tarmac. Once a navy pilot's plane is landed, it stays landed."
"And we know this because?"
"Research for a Derrick Storm novel. I was looking into having him fly to an aircraft carrier to join up with some Marines. But I didn't like where the story went so I didn't use it."
The plane finally rolled to a stop and the engines started to wind down. Castle stood up and held out his hand to Beckett.
"I have a car ready for us. I'll drive us to our destination."
"And where is that, Castle?"
"About a half hour drive from here."
Castle went up to the cockpit to shake the pilot's and co-pilot's hands. "Thank you for flying us here," Castle said.
"Thanks for flying with us, Mr. Castle."
"Rick, please. Will you be picking us up tomorrow evening?"
"Yes, sir, Rick. We'll be waiting for you about 5 pm right here."
"Great! Thanks, again."
Kate also shook the pilot's and co-pilot's hands, thanked them and the flight attendant.
Rick then put his hand at the small of Beckett's back and said, "Shall we?"
Castle pulled out of the airport parking lot and followed the signs to interstate 86. Castle had already preprogrammed his GPS for the various locations he planned on taking Beckett.
Only on the interstate for a few miles, the GPS voice said to exit here. The signs at the bottom of the ramp said "Horseheads/Watkins Glen in one direction and "Elmira" in the other direction. Castle turned toward Horseheads/Watkins Glen.
"Castle, I thought we were going to Elmira?"
"Yes, well, the airport is known as Elmira/Corning Regional Airport, so technically we've already been to Elmira." Castle smirked. "But in all seriousness, we'll make it back to Elmira, and not just the airport on the way back. Our last couple of stops will be in Elmira."
"Horseheads then?"
"You know, that name makes me think of the infamous scene in "The Godfather" where that guy has the horse head in his bed."
"What is it with men? "The Godfather"? As a cop and a NYPD cop on top of that, "The Godfather" is not high on my list of movies. Yeah, John Woo movies are bloody like "The Godfather". But movies with corrupt cops are a sore spot with me."
"You sound almost like Meg Ryan's character in "You've Got Mail". She said about the same thing, "What is it with men"," Castle said trying to imitate a high pitched female voice.
Beckett gave him a dirty look.
"She said that Tom Hank's character always making "The Godfather" references," Castle continued.
"Drop it, okay?"
"Okay."
"So are you taking me to the Watkins Glen Raceway then?"
"Beckett, just relax and enjoy. I think you'll like this excursion. Anyway, I hadn't planned on going there. The big NASCAR race was a few weeks ago. But we can swing by later, if you like. But now, we need to be at our next stop before 10."
"Ok, I'll relax."
They rode in silence as the miles passed on the state road. The silence was only broken by the announcements from the GPS.
Finally, the GPS announced, "You have arrived".
Beckett looked out the window and saw a sign, "Watkins Glen State Park".
Castle looked at his watch, "Good, 9:40. We are here in time."
"In time for what, Castle?"
"The "Walk Behind the Falls" tour. It starts at 10."
Castle parked the car and pointed to the building at the park entrance. "We may want to hit the head before going on our tour. The tour is about an hour and about a mile long."
"Ok, Castle."
As they got out of the car, they heard a babbling stream on one side of the parking lot. The lot was long and narrow. A row of cars were parked on either side of a roadway that stopped at what appeared to be a tunnel entrance. To the left and above the tunnel was an archway bridge. Underneath was a waterfall. Beckett could see people walking up to the tunnel entrance and others on the bridge.
After their visit to the restroom, Castle and Beckett walked hand-in-hand up toward the tunnel entrance. As they approached the tunnel, they could hear the roar of the falls under the archway. There they saw a sign for the tour and two young ladies with New York State Parks logo's on their shirts.
"Are you the tour guides?" Castle asked.
"Yes, sir. We'll be starting in a few minutes," the more senior tour guide answered.
The two tour guides looked to be in their early 20's. The younger looking one was blonde while the other was darker haired. They both carried backpacks. As people passed to enter the tunnel, the tour guides asked if they were here for the tour. Several more joined the group gathering at the entrance.
Finally, the senior tour guide looked at her watch and said, "I'm Pam, this is Tammy and we'll be your tour guides for this "Walk Behind the Falls" tour. Since there are a number of people here, we are going to split into two groups. I'll take the first group and Tammy will take the second group. These people over here will go with me. You over there stay here with Tammy. She'll give me a head start and then start in about 5 minutes."
Castle and Beckett were in the second group that waited for the first group to start. Meanwhile, Tammy asked some of the kids where they were from and other small talk prior to starting.
Then Tammy announced, "I'm going to start now. I will be stopping at several places along the way. Please keep up. This tour is about an hour long and we walk about a mile up the gorge. In several places there will be puddles that you cannot get around. Do not tip-toe through them. That will only make your feet and shoes wet. Walk on your heels and you will be less likely of having wet shoes."
Tammy looked at her group and then started into the tunnel.
"Beckett, do you think you can do that?"
"Do what, Castle?"
"Walk on your heels. Between your killer heels and your job, you're always on your toes." Rick teased.
"Shaddup." Beckett glared.
As the group walked along, Tammy pointed out the various features of the gorge.
The single tallest fall within the gorge is about 50 feet.
At one point, they stopped at a heart-shaped pool.
Castle looked at it, wiggled his eyebrows and said to Beckett, "That gives me an idea. Maybe replace the one in the loft or the one in the Hamptons."
Beckett just rolled her eyes at Castle.
Tammy continued up the gorge. At one point she stopped and pointed to a bridge high above the gorge.
Tammy said, "Here there was a hotel on the south rim and the kitchen on the north rim. They were connected by this bridge above us. The bridge is about 90 feet above us here. Further up the gorge there is a point of interest that the height is important. Also, every so often you should look back the way we came. The view can be interesting."
One person commented on the stratified rocks in the walls of the gorge.
Tammy explained, "This used to be an inland sea. The sediment from the waters deposited over millions of years building up to this level. Organic material was also trapped in the sediment becoming methane gas. This gas was released in earthquakes that sheared the rock. Further up we can see better examples of this shearing."
After walking further up the gorge past a couple of moderate waterfalls, Tammy stopped show pictures and to tell about the plants, animals and insects that live in the gorge. She noted that most of the plants were on the north side of the gorge. Certain insects live on the north side and fly over to the south side to eat insects that haven't warmed up enough to move.
Further up the gorge Tammy pointed out there were fault lines that were perpendicular.
"That pool there has a good example of the perpendicular fault lines. Remember I talked about the methane causing fissures in the rocks? Millions of years ago, the massive continent, Pangea, the part that became Africa pushed against the North American continent from one direction and then later from another direction causing the fissures to be perpendicular to each other."
Tammy continued, "Notice that metal work in that pool there? There is a railroad trestle at the west end of the gorge, this is part of the old one. The railroad brought guests to the hotel that I told you about earlier. The earlier trestle had a center piling that debris collected on damming the stream. It finally gave way collapsing the trestle. An 85 foot tall wall of water went down the gorge, clearing it. That bridge we saw earlier was just barely above the water."
Tammy led the group further up the gorge pointing out other interesting items about the gorge. Finally the group reached the end of the tour.
"This concludes our tour. You can go up to the end of the gorge and there is a bus that will bring you back to the start or you can walk along the north or south rim trail back to the parking lot."
"Thank you, Tammy," Castle said. "Beckett, let's go on the south trail."
Castle and Beckett walked hand-in-hand underneath the canopy of trees down the trail. They came upon a plaque that signified where the hotel stood back around 1900. There were round tables set nearby that were covered with moss.
They reached a stairway that went down to the gorge and heard a roar of engines.
"Must be the raceway," Castle said. "It isn't far from here. There must be some other races going on today."
Just then Beckett's stomach growled.
Castle chuckled, "I guess I need to feed you."
"Please."
"There is a place that was recommended on the internet. It is about 30 minutes away. Do you think you can make it?"
"Yes."
"Then let's get back to the car."
A/N: We had a great tour guide there at the gorge. I hope I remembered everything she said correctly. She was very informative and friendly. I hope my attempt to capture her is adequate.