All the way through O . . .

I am getting a tad jaded, and I expected more in the way of whistles and bells from the Empire State, home of the Big Apple and so forth. I really expected that splash page for New York to come across like the chorus line of a Broadway musical. No such luck.

BUT, if I were in the planning stages of a New York vacation, I'd get everything I need at http://www.iloveny.state.ny.us.

The New York tourism site has a clickable map that breaks the state into regions. Great destination overviews and generic descriptions of attractions and areas make it easy to choose an itinerary that mirrors your interests. The page for each region has lots of links to attractions, businesses, and lodging within the region. Some parts of the state - Long Island, for example - have more links to tourist information-type pages that others.

If you don't want your data by destination, the opening page offers the option of exploring New York's attractions, outdoor activities, themed vacations, and other categories. The section on New York City weekends provides excellent descriptions of neighborhoods and directions for the visitor. The site does tend to be a touch copy-heavy and the more visually inclined visitor could be bored.

http://www.visitnc.com filled me with angst, moral conflict, and plain ole aggravation. North Carolina is my home state. I know we have mountain resorts, gorgeous coastline, interesting small towns and other attractions that could fall under the heading of "generally neat stuff." You'd never know it from our web page. Unless you have extremely good eyesight and nothing to do for about 12 hours, you won't learn much from the Tarheel's tourism page.

NC's site loads slower than Christmas. You'll have the opportunity to play innumerable games of solitaire while you wait. Once the site is loaded, you'll find dark, obscure pages with the ambience of an on-line horror 'zine. Once you fiddle around to enter an area, (for example: "Things To Do)," you'll be greeted with bizarre copy telling you that in North Carolina we celebrate many things: hams, yams, and woolly worms. (I've lived here a large chunk of my life and never met, much less had a drink with, a woolly worm.) Once you move to the specifics, whether your goal is lodging or attractions, the copy dwindles to an eye-straining 6-point type size. Why? I dunno, ask the woolly worm.

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