We're off to see St Judy, the wonderful diva of.....Grand Rapids.

Howdy Doody BlogFiends!  Thought I should come up with a different greeting from the normal one.  How's that for a starter?

Tuesday morning loomed long and large.  We had more work to do, for me some reading of an awesome book by Chris Orwig, photographer and super chap, and James had work to do for an online class that he is teaching.  We also had a date with a certain movie star in mind.  So with that we set off for the town of Grand Rapids, MN, about a 1 hour drive or so from Garrison.  It was a pleasant drive with nice scenery and no untoward events....except the bird that flew straight into the radiator of the Pathfinder with a loud thud and a flurry of feathers.  The bird wins the headache of the day award, methinks.

Arriving in Grand Rapids we turned to the trusty GPS and Bing Maps to find a local Starbucks to camp out at.  Alas, we were out of luck it seems with the only Starbucks in the entire town being a licensed concept store located in Target.  Call me a snob but having worked for Buckies for over 7 years in corporate stores, licensed concept locations and their lack of beverage standards are not on my menu.  So we spied a Caribou Coffee location a little way down the street and settled in there.  I have to say that the coffee was pretty good too!  They looked a little flumoxed when we asked them to make us a french press of coffee so we settled for an Americano for James and a Mocha for me instead and settled in for a few hours.  A pleasant experience indeed.  James typed away and I read away, all the while watching the comings and goings of various Minnesotans and their caffeinated habits.

Soon, however, it was time to leave.  We had a definite mission at hand, and those of you who use Facebook or Twitter to keep up with our adventures will know what the mission was.  You see, Grand Rapids is no ordinary town.  It is the birthplace of none other than St Judy herself.  Yes, dear reader, your happy homos were here to make a pilgrimage to the Judy Garland Birth House Memorial Museum and Historical Exhibition.

Could we be any gayer?

With barely contained excitement we went back to the car, re-programmed the GPS and sped off towards Mecca.  With no idea what to expect our imaginations went crazy.  Would there be a real life animatronics version of Judy at the entrance?  Would there be an interactive re-enactment of Liza's birth?  Would we be able to cluck appreciativly at the stupendous collection of Cecil Beaton costumes that had been designed for Judy in her many movie roles?  And then we arrived.

Located right on the main road, highway 169, with traffic thundering past, was a small sign that read Judy Garland Museum.  There were no dancing girls wearing snappy outfits and red sequined hats.  There were no munchkins ready to offer us a lick of their lollipops.  There was no walking, talking version of Liza Minelli, with Lorna and Sid Luft walking deferrentially two paces behind.  Instead there was an ordinary building with a sign. Just a sign, saying "This Way to the Judy Garland Birth House Memorial Museum and Historical Exhibition".  For a moment we looked perhaps a little crestfallen, and then, remembering that Judy was nothing if not a trooper of the first degree, we picked up our smiles and swept forward, radiating a smile that would have knocked the socks of Louis B Meyer, and entered the museum front door.

James listening to Judy sing in the museum

Once inside we came face to face with a delightful lady, wearing an odd looking frock that was an alarming shade of green, who informed us that we had to pay the princely sum of $8 each to proceed any further.  With credit card at hand we paid the fee, snatched up the photocopied map and sailed through the doors into the exhibition. 

The museum was completely different to anything that I was expecting.  Despite the fact that Judy Garland was a major star, and love her or hate her, and an important part of cinema history, the museum was suprisingly without pretension or glitz.  It had been set up by a group of people who were really proud of the the fact that Judy Garland was from Grand Rapids, MN, and had spent all their time collecting memorabilia from around the world.  They had even managed to secure her house.  There was no fancy lighting or glitzy corridors lined with costumes and gold discs.  There were no dancing ponies or munchkins.  Just a treasure trove of Judy stuff to look at.  Playbills, photographs, a few dresses, telegrams, and of course the house in which she lived were the crux of the exhbition.  There was a letter on the wall from Liza thanking the people for honouring her mother, and also a mention of that other deity, Barbra Streisand, who had donated funds to support the museum (bless!).  It was a remarkably honest and down to earth rememberance of a star who started out in humble beginnings, and who, through little fault of her own, ended up in a humble and sad ending.

Will the real Judy please stand up!

We went from section to section of the museum, marvelling at the material that had been amassed, and then toured the house that Judy (or Frances Ethel Gumm as she was christened) was born and raised in.  It was all very special and heart warming.  She was, and is, such a special lady.  All joking aside she was someone who has inspired many a person to move forward in their lives and I am glad that people have the chance to see and learn something about here.  And of course to visit THE GIFT SHOP!

How could there be a Judy Garland Birth House Memorial Museum and Historical Exhibition but no gift shop?  We were not dissapointed.  Although modest it had just the kind of campy "trinkerama" that one would expect to find.  Wizard of Oz lunchboxes, ruby slipper badges and brooches, assorted books, postcards, mugs, creepy Judy Garland dolls, etc etc etc.  The list just went on.  There was even a very large picture of Andy Williams, who was the guest of honour at this years Judy Garland festival that had taken place at the Judy Garland Birth House Memorial Museum and Historical Exhibition earlier this year (The picture looked like it was from the 1970s and I am sure that he is about 97 now).  But the biggest prize of all, apart from the foam "yellow bricks" that you could purchase for 50c each, was the set of Glinda and Dorothy Salt and Pepper shakers.  Glinda, the Good Witch of the North and Dorothy Gale of Kansas sculpted in porcelain, with holes drilled in their heads (three in Glinda (p), one in Dorothy (s)) and with clever little magnets to hold them close together.  No matter that Dorothy looked like she had been hit in the face with a brick and that Glinda looked her make up had been done by Robert Smith of The Cure.  These, dear readers, are insignificant minor details that mean nothing to Friends of Dorothy from all over the world.  And so, with credit card in hand, we forked over the requisite $12 to have these ceramic morsels enter our lives.  You may or may not be fortunate enough to see them on the dinner table when you next come over for dinner.  If not, then consider yourself persona non-grata and be gone...before someone drops a house on you!

"If I only had a brain"

With that, dear reader, we left the Judy Garland Birth House Memorial Museum and Historical Exhibition (don't you think the title just rolls of the toungue after a while?).  Waiting outside was the Wizard of Oz wooden cut out display where children could put their heads.  Well, seeing as we are all children at heart, it was too good an opportunity to miss!  I, being the perfectionist that I am, made James put his head in all of the holes and pose for photographs, presented here.  I am sure that you will agree that the one of him as Dorothy is just perfect and more than a little disturbing, seeing as how his eyes are so close to the top of the cutout head.  Bless him and St Judy!  You can see all of the shots here on this page, including one of yours truly, your blogmeister as well.

And with that, dear reader, our trip was done.  We spent the rest of the afternoon tootling around Grand Rapids, MN, and then headed back to Garrison.  Garrison seemed a strange and quiet place after having been to the Judy Garland Birth House Memorial Museum and Historical Exhibition.  But we cooked our dinner on the grill, washed our dishes, and retired to bed, thinking that for the next few days our cabin in Garrison was home, and that there really is no place like it.

Big Love,

D&J

P.S.  Don't forget that you can now follow us on Twitter for the microblog updates too!  David can be found as dnmartin98 on Twitter so hurry along and follow us!  You wouldn't want to miss anything would you!

Where to now, chaps?

Uh oh.....

"If I only had some courage!"

"If I only had a heart"