It was late March and we set out on a venture heading north from Tucson. We drove through a blizzard to reach Flagstaff and considered turning around, but the interstate was closed behind us due to icy conditions. We pressed on and outran the storm to Monument Valley, where we spent the night in The View hotel, a great hotel that absolutely lives up to its name. The storm caught up to us overnight, and we woke to a bitingly-cold, snow-covered sunrise over the Mittens and Merrick Butte. This was taken from our balcony.

Then we headed up Highway 163 en route to Moab and Arches National Park. Along the way, I had to pull over at Mile Marker 13 and get this picture.

A long-haired and heavily-bearded fellow stops running and the dozens of disciples running behind him also stop in breathless anticipation of him saying something momentous. He says, “I’m pretty tired, think I’ll go home now.” The bearded fellow is, of course, Tom Hanks, and the scene is one of my many, many favorites from one of my favorite movies, Forrest Gump.

The scene takes place on US-163, 13 miles into Utah, and the background is Monument Valley, one of the most beautiful and majestic places on this planet.

The shot was taken with a Nikon D-700 using an 85mm lens at f/14.