A French Couple's Love for the American West Ends in Death in the Desert. Their Son Got Lucky.

Not sure what the couple was thinking, but obviously it's not too bright to go hiking at White Sands National Monument, a freakin' boiling summer desert in New Mexico, at 1:00 in the afternoon in 100 degree heat.

But hey, they loved the place.

At least they sacrificed for their kid.

At the New York Times, "A French Couple’s Love for the American West Ends in Tragedy":

PARIS — The family from France was so enthralled by their last visit to the American West that they started planning another almost immediately. On Facebook, they posted pictures of the vast blue skies, the rugged ocher canyons and the endless strips of asphalt that had captivated them.

This year, David and Ornella Steiner, a couple from a quiet town near Reims, about 100 miles east of Paris, returned, starting in Seattle before heading to Santa Fe. A picture posted on Aug. 2 on Mr. Steiner’s Facebook profile showed the vivid electric blue water of a natural pool in Yellowstone Park.

But it was at the White Sands National Monument of New Mexico, a region where beautiful landscapes can conceal dangers quick to surprise even the most prepared visitor, that the Steiners’ new trip took a terrible turn. Last week, the couple was found dead in the desert, apparently from heat-related exhaustion during a hike. Their 9-year-old son, Enzo, was the only one to survive, found alive by park rangers who believe his parents sacrificed water to save him.

The French Foreign Ministry said on Monday that the boy arrived in France over the weekend with his grandmother, who had flown to Albuquerque to bring him home.

Kim Duntze, who worked with Ms. Steiner at the Reims town hall, said in a telephone interview that news of the couple’s death had shocked her co-workers, who all knew about the trip because Ms. Steiner had been planning it for over a year and had discussed it frequently at the office.

“They had fallen in love with the area,” Ms. Duntze said. “It was their dream project.”

The bodies of Mr. Steiner, 42, and his wife Ornella, 51, were found by park rangers last week during a routine patrol. Sheriff Benny House of Otero County told The Alamogordo Daily News on Saturday that two empty 20-ounce water bottles were found with the bodies but that the boy told investigators the bottles were full when the family started the hike.

“The father and mother would take one drink while they made the child take two swallows of water,” Sheriff House said. “It might have been why the child fared so well due to his smaller stature, plus he probably consumed more water than they did.”

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