It's May. The end of the month is usually when the New York State travel season gets underway. By the end of the month, we can generally expect no more snow (generally, mind you), open roads clear of snow and ice, and the end of the heating season. I have long lamented the fact that most New York tourist sites shut down for the winter, from October to May. That leaves us with only SIX months of tourism, folks. And the New York State powers that be still expect to meet or exceed revenues every year.

Such is incredible. Think about it-- in other states (southern ones), they have a year round tourism industry. I wonder what their revenues are, compared to New York's?

Here in the frigid winter months, the only real entertainment we get is from the direct tv, huddled around our tubes or computers. OK OK, yeah, there's the Iditarod and the Snow Festivals. Oh, and there's the swimming in the 10-degree-lakes, just for kicks. (Actually, I'd rather be huddled around my directtv instead of that). But what else is there for us, for half the year? Not much.

I think the tourist places should be open for a longer period of time. Thanks to improved weather forecasting and snow plows and such, roads are better maintained. Winter is a wonderful time to remember historic things-- some historic houses do open briefly for Christmas, which I think is lovely.

But the real contender comes with winter's very high energy bills. Most tourist places cannot afford the extremely high heating and electricity costs. Heck, most New Yorkers can't either.

I like traveling in the winter-- when the roads are clear! In winter, there are fewer crowds, fewer bugs, and less humidity. I like the weather, I like snow. Maybe someday, the tourist places will expand their seasons. For now, I'm stuck waiting another 3,4 weeks until anything opens. Oh well, at least there's
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