There is a reason they call it Death Valley, and it always gives us incredible respect and amazement for those early settlers who braved this harsh land and survived.

It is also a beautiful land of color and contrasts.

I asked one of our guides to share some stories with us. He talked about growing up in the canyon nearby, of being sent away to boarding school, having his hair cut off, being punished for speaking his native tongue and being made to stand in the corner for the whole day. It was not a bright spot in our …

Along the river, our guide gathered everyone around and said we should look at the water while he sang a song he wrote of The River Going Nowhere and beat his shallow drum. As he explained it, in the old days, no one knew where the river went. No one knew that eventually, it would go into the Colorado. In those days, it came and passed by where they lived. That was all they needed to know.

Everyone loved it and thought …