Meet Nichole Engle | Mom, Attorney & Family Travel Blogger

We had the good fortune of connecting with Nichole Engle and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Nichole, as a parent, what do you feel is the most meaningful thing you’ve done for them?
The most important thing I have done as a parent is to encourage my girls to never stop expanding their horizons. The world is so much bigger than our backyard, and it is there waiting to be experienced. I grew up in a small town in Northern Michigan, where the circularity of daily routines and small-town experiences left me shielded from much that the world had to offer. I did not venture far from home until mid-way through my undergraduate program, when I participated in my first study abroad. That experience opened my eyes to the world and led me to realize that by limiting my point-of-view to my little corner of the world, I was closing myself off to endless possibilities. By adventuring outside our comfort zones, exploring different cultures, and embracing life from countless points-of-view, I am encouraging my girls to think “big” and look past the walls we establish in our everyday living. This translates into every aspect of their lives – from learning empathy to forming deeper connections with people, from not being afraid to fail at something to identifying small successes even when something did not go as planned.

Let’s talk shop? Tell us more about your career, what can you share with our community?
I have always had a drive to understand the science behind things, but the thought of living my life in a laboratory made me shudder. I have a knack for technology, but I also love all things creative. This left me in such a limbo as I neared the end of my undergraduate college life! I was introduced the fascinating field of intellectual property law and planned to “someday” go to law school. Supporting myself after college and needing a steady income, “someday” turned into way too many years. Then, I just decided one day to make it work. I found an evening law program where I could keep my paralegal job during the day and put myself through law school in the evenings. Four years later (and a study abroad … because how could I turn that opportunity down!), I finally became a real-life lawyer! But not just any lawyer, an intellectual property lawyer in a largely male-dominated field.

Getting started was not easy, but I took a chance when a mentor asked me to help start a new firm. I took a huge leap of faith and helped to build the new firm into a successful intellectual property boutique, rising through the ranks and eventually being named partner before my position was eliminated two weeks before Christmas in 2019. During this time, I had become a mother and became responsible for the well-being and upbringing of two beautiful little girls. I was left devastated, questioning my faith and not knowing where my place was in the world.

A minor inconvenience by the name of COVID swept through the world, hiring stopped, and the world closed its doors to everyone. With the encouragement of my family and an invitation from my brother to hitch my wagon to his legal practice, I decided to build my own practice. It took some time, but developing my own practice allowed me the flexibility to explore that creative side I left behind in college. I was able to become an avid volunteer in my community – as a Girl Scout leader and as a PTA president. I started a digital download business on Etsy to support my plans for family travel and adventures. Then, I dusted off my camera and began to explore the world again both through my lens and through the eyes of my girls. With the encouragement of my husband, I decided to share my travel and adventure plans with the world. Hence, my family travel blog – Adventure is in Our Souls was born!

Looking back now, I see that God works in mysterious ways. I just needed to embrace my fears of failure and identify small successes even when things did not go as planned.

Any places to eat or things to do that you can share with our readers? If they have a friend visiting town, what are some spots they could take them to?
We loved our time in Arizona! This is how we enjoyed 6 days in Arizona during our family road trip adventure.

After setting off on our family road trip, we drove about an hour and a half from Phoenix, Arizona to our first stop at the Montezuma Castle National Monument. Ironically, this area has nothing to do with the Aztec’s (i.e., “Montezuma”), but gained its name from assumptions made by early settlers. Montezuma Castle NM can be combined with nearby Montezuma Well NM and Tuzigoot NM. We were limited on time and the girls had limited attention span, so we opted to only visit Montezuma Castle. In all, Montezuma Castle is a lovely 1-2 hour stop that is easily accessed off I-17. It introduced the girls to early Native American history in the southwest (something we built upon along our road trip) — and it was also a great precursor to the extensive cliff dwellings we visited at Mesa Verde.

After leaving Montezuma Castle NP, we drove a few more miles and watched the scenery drastically changed from white sand mountains to red sandstone as we neared Sedona. At first glance, Sedona is a charming town with new age spas, art galleries, and adventure outfitters surrounded by red-rock buttes, forests, and trailheads. The buildings blend nicely with the natural scenery giving off an overall sense of serenity.

I had scheduled a hot air balloon ride over the Sedona landscape with Northern Lights Balloon Expedition for our first morning! There are multiple hot air balloon companies in the area, but Northern Lights was one of only two companies permitted by the US Forestry Service to take off and land in Sedona — plus they are a family-owned company with an outstanding safety record.
Our scheduled pick-up was 4:50 am (no problem since we were still functioning on eastern time). Pick up ran smoothly. The weather was a little chilly, so the girls and I dressed in layers. The van took us and 8 other guests into the desert where we got our first glimpse of the basket. Lily (my youngest) was very concerned about how we were all going to fit, but the guides explained how the 100 foot balloon raises up into the air and picks up the metal burner system, leaving the entire basket open for all of us. Upon arrival at the departure location, the company tests the winds before launching by releasing a black helium balloon and watching it react to the winds high in the air. Unfortunately, my bucket list hot air balloon ride will have to wait until another day, because the winds did not want to cooperate today. So we packed back into the van and returned to the hotel before breakfast started. This is a perfect example of why I always have back-up adventure options!

Since it was still pretty early, we drove through Sedona to explore some of the overlooks mentioned on our audio tour (I use the GuideAlong tours). We explored the Oak Creek Visitor Center area, took a short hike around the pull-off for Midgley Bridge, and worked on the girls’ Coconino National Forest Junior Ranger activity books. Then it was time for our back-up adventure that I was able to book over breakfast … a 4×4 Jeep adventure with Red Rock Western Jeep Tours! After we loaded into the red jeep, our guide took us on a panoramic tour of the mesa and a close-up view of Doe Mesa. The girls loved the “roller coaster-like” bumpy off-road adventure. A short 7 mile drive from Sedona, Slide Rock State Park was our last destination after a day full of outdoor adventures! It was the perfect place to cool off and enjoy the late afternoon. We thought Sedona was an action-packed outdoor wonderland! So much to do, see and experience!

From Sedona, we drove about 90 minutes to a hidden astronomical surprise. Driving through the flat desert climate where the road continues for as far as the eye can see, we approached what appeared to be a low ridge and small building in the middle of nowhere. We take every opportunity to stop and visit “something different” during our road trips, so Meteor Crater was the perfect short stop on our travels towards the Petrified Forest National Park. I mean, how many people can say they have seen an actual meteor crater? Not to mention, because of its young age and the area’s dry climate, Meteor Crater National Landmark is one of the best-preserved impact craters on Earth! We explored the museum and took a guided tour where the guide explained the formation, history, and geology of the crater as we walked along an easy paved path over a portion of the crater rim.

After leaving the Meteor Crater Natural Landmark, we continued along I-40 towards the northern entrance of the Petrified Forest National Park. The actual Painted Desert extends over 150 miles from the eastern end of the Grand Canyon into the Petrified Forest National Park. Much of the Painted Desert is located in remote areas in the Navajo Nation. However, you can explore a portion of it in the northern part of the Petrified Forest National Park. The Painted Desert / Petrified Forest is home to a team of paleontologists that prepare fossils discovered in the National Park. We attended a demonstration and learned how fossils are extracted little-by-little from the larger jackets. Then we were off! We drove the Main Park Road that connects the northern entrance of the park to the southern entrance while stopping at the various overlooks and pull offs to explore and enjoying the Shaka Audio Guide. The drive starts with a loop through the Painted Desert overlooks. These initial views set the tone for the increasingly amazing views of the Painted Desert! You are immediately awestruck by the colors you see from the overlooks, and as hard as it to imagine, the colors become even more amazing as you continue along the drive! After leaving the overlooks, you cross a segment of the Historic Route 66. This segment is no longer in use, but this is a great spot to take some fun photos with the old Studebaker that marks the location. Continuing south, we visited Newspaper Rock and the Tepees (whose bluish tones make you feel like you are driving on another planet). My favorite part of the Painted Desert was the hike around the Blue Mesa Trail. The mesas have beautiful blue, purple, gray, and peach colored striations with scattered petrified wood making an emergence. The trail was amazing! As you descend the paved trail, you feel like you are entering another world. I could have spent hours photographing all the different colors! Around the Blue Mesa Trail, you start to see petrified wood from the Petrified Forest part of the National Park. Overall, the Painted Desert/Petrified Forest is an amazing wonderland of beautiful colors with lots of off-road trails to explore! Definitely one of the most under-rated National Parks!!

After a long day of adventures, we made our way to the Grand Canyon via a brief stop in Flagstaff for dinner. It was late and pretty dark, so we spotted lots of wildlife during our drive – a coyote, mule deer, and a running bull elk. After a late check-in, we were all asleep pretty quickly! It was too dark to see the actual canyon when we arrived the night before, so we had our much anticipated first view in the morning. We trekked out the short path to the rim, where we had a picnic breakfast while the girls worked on their Junior Ranger books. This is where we had our first animal friend encounter of the day – an overly friendly squirrel who wanted to steal what it could out of our bags. These squirrels mean serious business and have zero fear of humans! We made our way along the Rim Trail starting from Mather Point. We took in the views at the various overlooks, attended a Ranger Talk, and enjoyed the wildlife while we made our way along the trail. Dustin got to enjoy some rock hopping while Lily kept yelling at him to be careful. It is hard to grasp the sheer size of the Grand Canyon! We have spent a lot of time traveling through the Colorado Plateau on our trip and experiencing the grandeur of the Colorado River. From the peeks of the south rim of the Grand Canyon, the Colorado River is a tiny spec in the distance.

We left the Grand Canyon through the east entrance to the park early the next morning. We drove along the Desert View Drive stopping at the various lookout points along our way. We said goodbye to the South Rim of the Grand Canyon and traveled through the Navajo Nation to Page, Arizona. Cattle, horses, and other livestock are free-roaming throughout the area, with little pullout areas with vender stalls every couple miles. We drove through the Navajo Nation to Antelope Canyon, a slot canyon on Navajo land. There are six separate section of the canyon. With the kids we opted to tour the Lower Antelope Canyon section and we were not disappointed!! Being on Navajo land, Antelope Canyon is only accessible through certain Navajo tour companies. We used Ken’s Tours based on recommendations in various hiking/tour groups. You start off by descending 5 sets of metal staircases into the long narrow slot canyon. With the sun shining through the top of the underground canyon, shafts of light cut into the canyon, illuminating the narrow orange and gold sandstone walls. The effect is surreal! At every turn there was a new formation, swirl, or wave to explore. I could have spent hours in the canyon photographing the angles and colors. Lower Antelope Canyon is the kind of place that you would never find unless it was pointed out to you. The entire canyon is below ground level. All that you can see to give it away is the wavy narrow chasm – and you can’t really see that unless you are really see close up! We explored some dinosaur prints and made the short hike back to the tour station, where we enjoyed popsicles while we dusted off.

After we finished our amazing tour of Lower Antelope Canyon, visited the Glen Canyon National Recreation Area. Glen Canyon NRA is a conservation unit of the United States National Park Service that encompasses the area around Lake Powell and lower Cataract Canyon in Utah and Arizona. From the visitor center we could look down on Glen Canyon Dam, but they have not opened tours of the dam back up since COVID.

Our original plan was to check into the hotel and then visit Horseshoe Bend at sunset, but the impending rain and our tired kiddos had other ideas. So, we pivoted and made the short trek after lunch instead. Horseshoe Bend is the picturesque view of the Colorado River on just about every screen saver. The river eroded the rocks over millions of years and formed the deep, sweeping curve of the river that defines Horseshoe Bend today. It was really beautiful and so big!

After a good night’s rest in Page, Arizona, we left early the next morning to explore the Monument Valley Navajo Tribal Park. Monument Valley sits on the Arizona and Utah boarder within the Navajo Nation. Navigating the constantly changing time zones was probably the biggest challenge of the morning. We weaved through MST in Arizona, to MDT while in the Navajo Nation, back to MST and then to MDT again. We somehow managed to arrive on time for our tour! Monument Valley has huge red sandstone buttes that are featured in numerous western movies. We boarded an open-air pickup and set off to explore the park. After passing through the first few formations in Monument Valley, we stopped at John Ford’s Point, a popular vantage point named after director John Ford. He shot nine movies in Monument Valley. This ledge is the location of the iconic John Wayne old western photos. If you tip the cowboy, he will ride his horse out to the point and let you replicate the iconic photo. John Ford’s Point also had some little shops and great views. You can drive your own vehicle through the valley, but only Navajo guides are permitted to take guests into the back country. Lucky for us, because the back country includes a visit to a traditional Navajo hogan! We were met with a Navajo woman who lives on the property. She demonstrated how the women prepare wool by hand and spin it into yarn to weave Navajo clothing and blankets. She spoke to us about Navajo traditions. She explained to Mia that long hair signifies the root of thought and ask to perform a traditional hair tying for her, to create a tsiiyéél (a traditional Navajo bun tied with yarn). She started by brushing her hair with a be’ezo (long dried stiff grass that grows nearby), securing it back with one end of the yarn, folding her hair up, and wrapping the long end around the folded hair. She ended by quietly speaking a Navajo blessing over Mia’s head. Of course Lily had her turn next. Super cool experience.

From Monument Valley, we continued driving northeast along a stretch of interstate towards Colorado. Along the way we stopped at the Four Corners Monument. We had our expectations in check, knowing this was a novelty stop – but it wasn’t very crowded and overall a nice place to get out and stretch our legs. The Four Corners Monument is still within the Navajo Nation. It marks the point where the states of Arizona, Colorado, New Mexico, and Utah meet. It is the only point in the United States shared by four states (leading to the area being named the Four Corners region). It is pretty remote. Once you park in the gravel parking lot, you enter the “monument” and stand in line to take your photos on the marker. The lines was maybe 10 minutes long. There are little shops around the perimeter with Navajo crafts and informational cornerstones “in each state”. After our photos and a little shopping, we indulged in more fry bread and snow cones from one of the food vendors before leaving Arizona to continue our road trip adventure in Mesa Verde.

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
My amazing husband deserves a whole lot of credit! He has whole-heartedly supported me, whether I was taking giant leaps of faith, planning a new crazy adventure, or battling my own self-doubt. He has remained my rock, my partner in life, and my best friend through our life adventure.

Website: www.adventureisinoursouls.com

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/adventureisinoursouls

Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC7o4gojk21Rt248wUMYvGug

Other: www.onmyhonordownloads.com

Image Credits
All photos were taken by me