My 5-year BC Citizenship – Check!!

British Columbia, Canada, is a land of adventure, varied landscapes, has the world’s only inland temperate rainforest, and much unique and fascinating industry and history that I continue to learn. I was thrilled to move here five years ago, to share life with the man of my dreams. Along with Mike’s warm welcome, I was embraced into his beautiful family, for whom I am grateful and enjoy spending lots of time with. I have also met and made many friends, acquaintances, and colleagues in Prince George, BC.

It has been a busy five years to be sure! And I was always on my toes – alert for any opportunity to earn “points” toward my “BC Citizenship application.” As I have mentioned before, when I moved here, Mike gaily informed me that I would not truly be a British Columbian until I had passed the exam after five whole years of living here. (If you have not previously read my blog about the move and introduction of the BC Citizenship, please feel free to sidebar, here) And I quote: “Mike tests me regularly. I frequently 'lose points,' but then I get them back in sneaky-smart I'm-gonna-be-a-BC-girl ways ha ha - so fingers crossed for the five-year test.”

We’ve driven to the Yukon, the Shuswap, the Okanagan, the Kooteneys, the Bowron Lakes chain, and the Island. Have touched the geographical centre of British Columbia, as well as BC’s Pacific coast in four places – Stewart, Prince Rupert, Bella Coola, and Tofino. Multiple trips to Vancouver of course, via the Fraser Canyon or the Duffy Lake road – both equally entertaining! Also hit up a place called Sasquatch – no joke.

I know where the Fraser River begins. Have camped boondocking. Touched ancient petroglyphs. Skinny-dipped in the midnight sun.

I have my gold miner’s license and know how and where to pan for gold. We hold annual passes for Barkerville, and we’ve explored Likely, Quesnel Forks, and the historical mines of the area.

We’ve adventured countless lakes, rivers, water falls, trails, back roads, dams, hot springs, hoodoos, gondolas, suspension bridges, and even a rodeo ground after dark. We’ve seen glaciers, bears, moose, deer, elk, caribou, bison, eagles, and the most incredible night skies – stars stars stars and of course the aurora borealis.

I’ve met Mike Hall, Claudia Bunce, Caden Fanshaw – and Mr. PG! I’ve written a blog for the City of Prince George, and I’ve gotten myself on three local radio stations as well as the CKPG Today television broadcast. And Mike and I were featured in and on the cover of our neighbourhood magazine. 😁

I’ve gotten my photo taken with a Conservation Officer.  And most recently, I have registered a business in BC, to renew my entrepreneurial vigor and be in BC Business. (More on that later)

 

And drumroll please…..  

I got my BC Citizenship!!!

 

On the 5^th anniversary of beginning our adventure together, Mike threw me a crazy impromptu surprise party with a bunch of our beloved family and friends! I was so shocked, walking in to the party with so many special faces (and a secret surprise guest I’m not allowed to reveal but whose photo you can find elsewhere in this blog), a huge cake, a BC flag, and all the love I could possibly imagine flowing around the table.

In classic Mike fashion though I had to work for it LOL – there was indeed an exam! I had to answer five questions about British Columbia, standing in front of everyone, still so shocked but also thrilled.

I aced all the questions except for a brief phone-a-friend moment for the year that BC joined Confederation – my Ontario showed when all I could think of was 1867 – BC became a Canadian province in 1871. Whoops – I knew that from all the great presentations at Barkerville! I did make up a few points by over-answering a couple of the other questions, and my smarty-pants friends even challenged me with the suggestion of a couple of real stumper questions – thanks guys!

My ever-flowing tears really burst forth when Mike announced I had officially passed the citizenship test and was now declared a British Columbian, and all my loved ones around the table waved little BC flags! 

Mike left no stone unturned in this process, and I am grateful for his thoughtfulness and caring, and his love of fun and shenanigans. We laughed and cried and partied on, so freakin’ wonderful I can’t even put it into words. ❤️ Thank you Mike!! ❤️ And everyone, for making that crazy surprise happen, for being there for me that evening and in the last five years, and for the promise of more love and laughter in the years to come.

So, as a real live BC Citizen, I’d love to share with you some photos of our last five years. Thank you Mike, for being who you are, and for sharing with me. I love and cherish you so much and appreciate every moment we spend together. -- AND I’m extra super glad I passed my citizenship as I truly don’t know what would have happened if I didn’t!! I’m glad you’re keeping me, but I’ll still always work extra hard for the points. 

To close this blog, I’ll leave you with the tidbit that I will soon be officially launching our new business: Allan Events Co.  Mike and I are partnering on this venture, which will encompass business event planning, but also our writing and speaking engagements. Very excited to return to entrepreneurship and support the business community and medical education sphere in Prince George and the province!

Allan Events Co.: corporate event organizers planning, coordinating, and executing business-related conferences, summits, networking events, meetings, education events, and CME accredited programs. Whether it’s an industry summit or a grassroots networking event, we create space for ideas to flourish and people to thrive.

Our work is also deeply rooted in the oncology patient support space, where we’ve helped lead advocacy initiatives, global education campaigns, and professional development events for healthcare providers.

In-person, virtual, or hybrid - we’ve delivered impactful events in every format—from networking events, training sessions, and roundtable meetings to CME-accredited conferences and symposiums. Event idea? Let’s make it happen!

Melanoma Blog(s) Updates - a Quick Check-in

Every year around this time I get a bit twitchy about my upcoming cancer-versary, it's soon annual CT scan time, and so I need to stop and smell the roses. Many amazing things have happened in my life in the last year, it's really been non-stop around here - all good stuff! And never a dull moment. Mike and I travelled around BC a bunch, including a raucous Camaro trip to the Kooteneys, and a stunning camping trip to Bella Coola. 

Also news: Claire and Cass moved here to Prince George (haha right - I never thought I'd say those words!) and are settling in beautifully. I of course am thrilled that we are back to living close to eachother!!! They are loving PG and immersing themselves in their new city.  We're slowly but surely getting their Toronto-blood-pressures down, and the imminent spring weather is going to greatly help that when we can get back out there for camping, exploring, and adventuring. 

In the meantime... work. Mike and I both have been burning the candle at both ends the past couple of seasons. Mike worked BC Elections as he loves to do, and then took on a side gig here in town to help him pass the winter (aka non-Camaro) season. I've still been working with Community Futures but also was part of a Scientific Planning Committee (my first one!) to bring a two-day accredited for Physicians hybrid conference to Prince George for Lymphedema Education. It was a large undertaking and I am honoured to have been able to support this event with my conference planning skills. Not long after that, I was part of the team who brought the B2B Expo to the Prince George business community - another large project I am proud to have been part of. These recent refreshers have reminded me how much I love to plan and facilitate corporate events, and how my professional efforts need to swing more in that direction. 

Sprinkled in between all of that was also a little bit of time with Save Your Skin Foundation! In February, SYSF invited me to host their Fireside Chat and speak on the topic of "Connecting to Your New Normal." It did stretch my cancer patient muscles a bit - I dusted off some decade-old feelings about this disease and shared my story and perspectives on life after cancer, hopefully giving even just one person a glimmer of hope in their skin cancer journey. 

SYSF has now posted the recording of my talk, and a short blog re-capping my melanoma and Save Your Skin story. You can check these out here and here: 

SYSF February 2025 Fireside Chat: "Connecting to Your New Normal" 

with host Natalie Allan, Cancer Survivor & Motivational Speaker

Thank you Kathy and Save Your Skin Foundation, for being there for me, and for Mike, our families, and all of the patients and caregivers your life-saving work supports in the cancer community. 🙌

I'm grateful to have some re-connects with my melanoma friends and family, and these opportunities help me to pause and reflect, and celebrate almost 11 years since I was first diagnosed, and I am HERE. 🙏 xoxoxo

🧡

One more quick note before I dash off to the next thing - just this very morning I received an email from Feedspot notifying me that my blog was again on the Top Melanoma Blogs list! Surprising as I haven't posted as much since last receiving this honour in 2017, but a very welcome nod and neat timing as I was just preparing to post about the SYSF event. Thank you @Feedspot - I appreciate #29 and will happily share your new badge. Great to see so many of my old friends and melahomies on this list as well! 🥰

Update - We Got Married!

Today Mike and I posted on social media the news of our recent marriage. On facebook and the other personal and professional social media platforms, we shared a few short words and a photo and drone-video, keeping it brief and true to us. But... on my blog I hold a bit more creative (aka wordy) license, and cannot resist saying a few extra things about our happy news!

Mike is the man of my dreams, a truly wonderful person inside and out, a fellow melanoma warrior - though he is brave and strong enough to call himself a melanoma survivor! - a true inspiration, and my best friend. Mike is intelligent and insightful, can always be relied upon by his friends and family, is invariably adventure-driven, and the funnest person I know. I am unspeakably honoured to share with him this crazy thing called life, and I thank my blessed stars every day that we found each other. 

Mr. Allan and I eloped last weekend, had a quiet ceremony at home, and shared this sacred moment between us with every emotion in our hearts and on our faces. We take this union very seriously, cherishing each other, knowing how quickly life can change and how important every moment is to live to the fullest. As the marriage commissioner prompted our words, the sweetness in the air was tangible, and we vowed to love and care for each other as husband and wife for the rest of our days. 

With an overflowing abundance of love and gratitude, yours truly,

💗 Mrs. Natalie Allan

~ with photography - and love-filled heart! - creds to Mr. Michael Allan 😎💕

Innovation is a Journey

Quick post to share a campaign that just launched: Innovation is a journey

I am honoured to have been part of this project and to support the work being done by life-saving pharmaceutical companies in the cancer space. Their research and development in innovative medicines is invaluable. 

Thank you BMS - you saved my life!

Watch the video

There is also an accompanying article for which I was interviewed, please feel free to check it out, here. 

“Even if something only works temporarily, that option could buy time until another treatment — and potentially a cure — comes along.” 

Wise words Mike, thank you. We live by this. 

Meeting Local Celebrities

Among my BC-travel highlights are the times I have had the privilege of meeting people who I think are pretty neat. Of course family and friends rank at the very top of my neat-people list! But there are some additional folks that have touched my life that I'd love to mention here, in the name of blog-updating and British-Columbia-life-sharing.  

For years I have been honoured to meet, travel, and work with many of our absolute stars in melanoma skin cancer treatment in Canada, namely from Toronto, Edmonton, Victoria, and Vancouver. Last year I even got to pop down to the Okanagan to have a SYSF dinner with a number of our treating Dermatologists, Oncologists and Surgeons in the area. As always, it was humbling and inspiring at the same time: learning on behalf of skin cancer patients, and speaking on behalf of skin cancer patients. 

In addition to these meaningful exchanges, I have had the fun of meeting up with local celebrities that are on TV. And yes, I do count medical-educational webinars and recorded zoom meetings that are online as valuable viewing material! 

But in this case I'm referring to celebrities on Netflix, History channel, CTV, Prime, Discovery, Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, etc etc etc - you get the idea. Sheer fun!

Let's start with Mike Hall from Rust Bros, in the Shuswap area. I've watched every episode of his show, laughing out loud at all the casts' antics, and learning a lot about cool car restorations at the invitation of my boyfriend Mike. Mike first got to meet Mike on a boys' trip a couple years ago, when he stumbled upon the Rust Valley Restorers shop/property/set and decided to pop in. As (my) Mike always says, just try... "nothing bad is going to happen" - they drove in, and were respectfully checking out the place when the boss came out and hung out to look at their cars and chat.

So when we were with family in the area last summer and went out on some exploring, Mike said hey let's stop in - maybe you can meet Mike too! And so we did. He was so gracious, obviously busy but still stopped to chat with us and take a photo. So cool, very fun!

A second local celebrity honourable mention goes here, to Avery from Rust Bros, and Wildman Restorations. Little did we know, when we were in the Shuswap we drove right by Avery's place several times - and we didn't know it until this past season when we watched on TV and saw the road! Didn't get to meet Avery, but if you watch the show you'd know he goes with Mike Hall, two peas in a pod if you ask me. 😂

Click photo for creds

Shifting gears... ha ha ha...

As I've mentioned before, since I've moved here I've learned a lot about gold mining, minerals, the environment, and the terrain in northern BC. Mike and I dabble in gold panning and have plans for more next season. But in the winters when we can't be out on the land, we occasionally watch TV. And guess what's on there - Gold Rush! Yes, I am completely hooked. But alongside Gold Rush are the likes of The Curse of Oak Island and Jade Fever. Ok no we haven't met the Lagina brothers or Parker Schnabel (though last season he did visit Barkerville!), BUT - Jade Fever! - Claudia Bunce! 

In my last post I talked about our visit to Jade City on the Yukon loop. The one thing I didn't mention is that Claudia was actually there, at the Jade City store when we stopped in. I didn't think she would be there, as it was the start of summer, and one would suspect they have to make the most of their time on the land up north in the short summer season. But lucky us - she was at home! I wasn't cool calm collected enough to ask her for a photo, so you'll have to see her in this one (and at the links below).

Click photo for creds

Just hangin' out all cool and prosperous in her jade store, as welcoming as if we had been invited to Thanksgiving dinner. Instantly we sensed her intelligence and business acumen, she was open and totally friendly, and absolutely not shy about her jade mining family history, business success, and current work as well as future plan speculation. 

She chatted with Mike while I (gaped and) shopped (quickly) - Claudia even said to Mike "Wow you are a Champ for letting her stop here to shop even with your hurt arm!"  A Champ! Well yes of course Mike is a Champ, but now it gets a capital C because Claudia said it too. She also referred to another shop she is/was working on, closer to us, but you'll have to wait to hear more about that one in a future post.  Claudia and her family happen to be from Prince George, so that bought me time to shop while Mike chatted. We have actually seen her at Costco since then too but without picture proof I feel like I can't say that 😅

https://jadecity.com/

https://www.ctv.ca/shows/jade-fever

And I will close with a couple more honourable mentions for Jade Fever.  On the day of the 2021 Father's Day Show n Shine fancy car tour here in PG, we saw Claudia's nephew Shane, to the very right in the crew photo above. I saw him and (so elegantly) exclaimed (from the window of Mike's Camaro) Oh wow it's Shane from Jade Fever!! and he smiled and waved. Yep, totally cool. 

Also Scrappy Larry, in the middle of the Jade Fever crew photo above. Scrappy Larry is a side-story in the Jade Fever show, and a captivating one at that! We love Scrappy Larry, have spotted him in PG as well, and we are thrilled that he now has his own website even. 

He is funny, sweet, genuine, and he loves cookies. We had brought a freshly baked care package of cookies for Scrappy Larry when we were planning to visit Cassiar and find him on our Yukon trip, but when we had to cancel that part of our trip we missed the chance to deliver to him. In any case, we'll keep trying!

So that's it for my BC celebrity update at the moment, but stay tuned... hangin' out with Mr. Nothing-Bad-is-Gonna-Happen you never know what  - or WHO - we might encounter next! 

Ryan Reynolds is from Vancouver after all..... 

😈

BC Waterfalls, Lakes, and Dams Oh My!

As I gathered the photos for this post, I had a chance to reflect on all of the ground we have covered traveling in British Columbia over the past two years. I'm never complacent about all of the sights in this province, but they are everyday life for me now. I get to see the Fraser River daily, a thought I hadn't considered when studying elementary school geography textbooks. Funny how life goes - I now know exactly where the Fraser River begins (we've seen it!) and how it flows all the way down to Vancouver, passing directly through Prince George and the Cariboo Region on it's way to the ocean. 

Prince George, where the Fraser and Nechako Rivers meet

Mike moved from Vancouver to the Cariboo in early adulthood, and has extensively traveled the area so he knows it inside and out, from current population, culture, and mapping to historical exploration trails, geological details, and the local gold rush in the 1860's. He's been everywhere man! And now he's taken me to so many of these places. Whether we go by car or take our little RV, we always have an adventure and learn things along the way.

Wells

We have seen countless rivers, lakes, waterfalls and dams - yes, plural damS. I have always lived near water in some form, and northern BC continues to deliver. We camp on gorgeous little lakes all the time, or take drives to explore, find places to kayak or picnic (or kayak-picnic, one of our fave pastimes). One very remarkable lake we have explored in some of our most remote camping is Quesnel Lake, which happens to be the deepest fjord lake in the world, the deepest lake in BC, and the third-deepest lake in North America. *

Quesnel Lake

Mountains too! I didn't know there were so many different types of mountains and mountain ranges. Thinking of BC before I had the picture in my mind of Vancouver and the mossy coastal mountains, or the snowy Rockies from my Banff trips, but in our travels I have seen the many terrains and rock types of this diverse province, from the glaciated rock of the Okanagan, up through the desert hills of the interior, the bush-y gold-bearing river-covered Cariboo, and all the way north to the Yukon and mountains with even more varied rock types and colours. I'll be sharing stories from all of our trips, from the bustling lower mainland to the off-grid north north, but let's start in the middle, at home here in the Cariboo-Prince George region. 

This area is where we camp, explore, gold pan, and trip through historical trails 

(such as Mike's favourite, the late 1700's Alexander MacKenzie Trail). 

Prince George is at the intersection of highways 16 and 97, so we have quick access to 

amazing adventures in all four directions N-S-E-W.

The very first road trip Mike took me on once we settled in from the move was to Barkerville. Barkerville is at the heart of the Cariboo Gold Rush, and is preserved in a living, working "pioneer village" town waaaayy off the beaten track southeast of Prince George. It is stunning! I have visited several pioneer villages in Ontario of course, but this is totally different. It is quite large, and very dense with buildings and preserved like it would have been in the 1860's, with so much historical value and information (we've since gone several times and I learn so many new things every visit). 

There are museum-style exhibits throughout, packed with gold mining facts and history, including a portion of the original town buildings from Barkerville's China Town.  Barkerville is staffed with theatrical folks who actually run the town, ie. blacksmith shop, several stores and hotels/B&Bs, gold-panning lesson area, and I must mention the bakery, which makes the best sourdough bread in the world, serves a traditional "miner's lunch," and sausage rolls that taste like they are straight out of an 1800's gourmet cookbook! I can already tell our Barkerville trips will end up needing their own whole blog post, and at this point I honestly wouldn't even blame you if you left this reading right now to click off to Barkerville.ca - it is SO COOL!

But if you're still with me LOL, I'll move on through our travels. After our first day trip to Barkerville and Wells, we went on our first long-weekend camping trip, north to Azouzetta Lake, through the Pine Pass to where the Rockies begin from the northwest. We don't fish, but we always camping-walk and explore, have fire-building wars, cook amazing stuff, play games, and do whatever adventuring the area offers. On this trip we enjoyed the lake as a home base, and did a day trip to Chetwynd (major chainsaw carving area!) and up to Hudson's Hope and the W.A.C. Bennett Dam.

As autumn set in, we put the trailer away and the Camaro away, and took to flying instead. We spent a weekend in Vancouver to meet Mike's sister and family, get a tour of their childhood area in West Vancouver, and take a ferry to Bowen Island. I had/have flown over that area so many times, and had been to Vancouver, North Vancouver, and even East Van before, but this personal tour was as heartwarming and scenic as it could possibly get. 

So if you know me at all, you have probably started to wonder about the unusually high number of photos of myself appearing in this blog LOL. I have always been the consummate tourist, but Mike has converted me to a selfie and portrait taking photographer as well now too, eager to get photo memories of all the crazy stuff we do. There are literally more photos of me in existence now from the past 2.5 years than from all of my 44 years prior. As you saw previously from our trip across Canada we even pose for pictures at tourist landmarks like giant nickels or Ukrainian Easter Eggs, and I will even admit I now eagerly stick my face into every ‘face in hole board’ or ‘photo cutout’ we find!

I cherish all of this and enjoy getting those perfect shots with Mike at every chance. Could be part of our "live each day to the fullest" thing.

Giant gold nugget pan in Quesnel

My first time panning for gold, in Likely

Mike in the Likely jail

We find all sorts of sassy photo ops!

And will climb into any mine

Or just goof around :-)

Okay back to the tripping. The camping season here runs from the start of May through to mid-September, which is about 18 weeks. In 2021 we were out by a campfire for more than 40 days through that time period, and we camped at all different spots - never the same one twice! We went to Hixon, Bear Lake, Whiskers, Likely (with day trips to Quesnel Forks and the Bullion Pit Mine), the Yukon loop (more on that later), Shuswap Lake, Barkerville/Lowhee, Valemount, Sowchea/Fort St. James, St. Maries, and 10 Mile Lake near Quesnel, with day trips to the Pinnacles plus gold-exploring in the Quesnel Canyon.  

Quesnel Forks

Our humble abode

McGregor

Sowchea, on Stuart Lake, at Fort St. James

Ghost Lake

Matthew River Falls

Off-roading on old tailings from gold mining

Kenney Dam

We harvest our own firewood too, just saying

We've taken a few trips south of the Cariboo as well, with Mike's son and family and friends to Shuswap for a week, for a work trip to Penticton, for the fun of driving on the Duffy Lake road, for an errand to Mission, and most recently to Osoyoos, wine country!

It was a bit smoky when we were at Shuswap

Salmon Arm

Seaton Lake, Lillooet area, you'll hear more about this later too

Near Mission BC, we stayed at the Sasquatch Inn

Chasm Provincial Park, near Clinton

Osoyoos

Fraser Canyon

Speaking of the Fraser Canyon, that kind of brings us full circle, back to the Fraser River and the route that goes along it from BC's northern capital all the way to the lower mainland. This year I've had the opportunity to drive up and down this route (hwy 97) a few times to varying distances for different events - a couple of times on my own even - so it has been a really great immersion into the landscape and culture. 

Hopefully our photos give you a glimpse of all of the water and terrain there is to be found here. We sure love it! 😁

Next stop - the Yukon loop story! 

~

Thought I'd share some links to more information about some of the interesting things I just touched on. If you'd like to read more about these places, here you go!

Fraser River

Alexander MacKenzie Heritage Trail

W.A.C. Bennett Dam

Bullion Pit Mine, Likely

Barkerville.ca

~