A chill moment at Monument Valley in Arizona

The Traveler: Peter Molenda of Minneapolis

Sandstone buttes rise from the valley floor, while a desert shrub wears a coat of ice one January morning in Monument Valley, a land of contrasts that lies in the Navajo Nation Reservation on the border of Utah and Arizona. "That western part of the United States is such a treat for folks from Minnesota to see," Molenda wrote in an e-mail. He and his wife, Rosalise, visited Monument Valley during a driving trip to visit family in New Mexico and Arizona. The two had stayed at a rental house just outside the valley and arrived in the valley early enough to see the ice that had accumulated on plants during the chilly night. "We were very impressed with the southeastern part of Utah and also had the opportunity to stop at Arches National Park near Moab, Utah," he wrote in an e-mail. He captured this scene with his iPhone 11.