Hello and welcome, my friend, to the Renaissance English History Podcast, a part of the Agora Podcast Network, and the original Tudor History Podcast, coming up on 15 years this month.

It was, like, I think Labor Day weekend, 2009, that I put out the very first episode of the Renaissance English History Podcast.

So it's been a while. I am your host, Heather, and I am a

storyteller who makes history accessible because I believe it's a pathway to understanding who we are,

our place in the universe, and being more deeply in touch with our own humanity. This is episode 247, I believe,

and we are talking about exploration. And if you are wondering,

my voice sounds a little bit weird today. Yes. I'm not sick. I was just at a new kids on

the block concert last night. And I did a lot of screaming and I did a lot of singing along and

feeling like I was 13. It's actually the second time I've

seen them this summer. I saw them about a month ago in San Diego. And the new kids on the

block for me, I was in right around 7th, 8th grade when they first got popular. And man, that was like

my first teenage crush, Donnie Wahlberg. And

here's a fun fact about Heather. So I went to see them in, I think it was 1989 or 1990 at the

York Fair in York, Pennsylvania. And I was convinced, absolutely convinced that Donnie Wahlberg

and I were going to get married. So I wrote a love letter to Donnie telling him exactly laying out

very methodically all the reasons why we were perfect for each other. So I think I gave it to a security guard. Because, you know, clearly if you're a security guard

at the York Fair, you have access to the talent.

But I gave it to a security guard.

And I had folded, I don't know if you guys remember, depending on what age you're in,

but when I was about 13, it was really, it was like, it was a thing

to like fold your notes. You would kind of fold, you'd make like a point, almost like a paper airplane

point and then fold it in half and then kind of fold it up in sections. Anyway, it was like a really

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