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The Canton, Georgia, families -- all friends -- had been planning this once-in-a-lifetime trip for more than four years and they were all smiles that the Big Week had finally arrived.

"This was the goal we set to be here together," said Scott Stroup. "It's great!"

But they weren't watching glaciers calve on a cruise ship in Alaska or wildlife on safari in Africa. They weren't enjoying a VIP tour at Walt Disney World.

They, along with some 1,250 families of 12-year-old Little Leaguers, including a smattering of girls from around the country, had converged on Cooperstown, N.Y., for a week-long invitational tournament at Cooperstown Dreams Park, which draws 104 Little League baseball teams each week to its 22 pristine fields spread out over 150 acres.

"It's hard to fathom what this is really about until you get here," said Brent Willis, whose son, Morgan, plays on the Bombers from Franklin, Tennessee. Their team has brought 45 adults and 20 siblings along for the ride. "The best part was seeing my son's face as we drove in," he added.

Here, rather than dropping the kids off for the week (they stay, play and eat on the property in bunks, along with their coaches at the cost of $850 each), parents, grandparents and siblings -- at least 5,000 people each week -- stick around this small central New York village (population 2,200), about an hour's drive from Albany and 3-1/2 hours from New York City, attending every game and skills competition.

In addition to the players' parents, The Canton, Georgia Cherokee Reds had also brought 10 siblings, five sets of grandparents and two aunts to join the fun at the big house they'd rented for the week. "We like each other," laughed one mom, Dixie Harper.

My family was no different. We'd gathered to cheer my cousin Ethan Sitzman's team, the Golden, Colorado Hurricanes, coached by his dad, Mike, and we were as floored as everyone else by the crowds and hoopla, including the souvenir tent reminiscent of a pro sports event.

Cooperstown, of course, is home to the National Baseball Hall of Fame, celebrating its 75th anniversary this summer with much fanfare and a new Babe Ruth Gallery, and the Glimmerglass Festival, which draws opera and music lovers, as well as a wide variety of museums (the hands-on Farmers’ Museum that depicts life on a 19th-century farm is especially popular with families). There's the historic lakefront Otesaga Resort Hotel with its killer views, U-pick orchards (Middlefield Orchard for summer berries) and the chance to do everything in the surrounding area from hiking to canoeing to golf and tennis, even visiting the local Brewery Ommegang that welcomes kids to its cafe's communal tables. A fun fact: Cooperstown was founded by the father of American author James Fenimore Cooper, who gained inspiration for his books, including "The Deerslayer," from his boyhood here. (For more on Cooperstown, read my trip diaries at www.takingthekids.com.)

But for the families coming to Dreams Park, exploring Cooperstown has to be fit in between games, despite what bored siblings might want. They come from across the country, from as far away as Alaska and Hawaii, for the privilege of watching their kids play in the town where baseball began in 1839, said Mike Walter, the CEO of Cooperstown Dreams Park. The 13-week tournament, in its 19th year, is so popular, he said, that teams routinely are on waiting lists.

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