Trips between Sacramento and Phoenix during Christmas holidays in the late 1980s and early 1990s generally involved travelling through Owens Valley. Those trips, and visits to Yosemite National Park and Joshua Tree National Monument (now a national park), reminded me of the vistas that likely inspired Ansel Adams. Many years later, when visiting the Monterey Bay area, I had the opportunity to photograph some of California’s picturesque Steinbeck Country.