Eight-time Olympic medalist Apolo Ohno is heading to the Islands. In an Alaska Airlines promotional contest, five winners and their guests will join Ohno in June for a Hawaiian vacation that includes roundtrip tickets to Maui on Alaska Airlines, a private luau with Ohno and luxury accommodations for four nights and five days at the Grand Wailea Resort & Spa.

Last week, Ohno helped the airline unveil a specially themed Boeing 737-800 with a larger-than-life image of the speedster wearing a lei, skating across the aircraft's fuselage and inviting travelers to "Follow Apolo to Hawaii."

HIMALAYAN TRAIL

A STEEP TRIP IN MORE WAYS THAN ONE

If you have a few months to spare this year, and deep pockets, World Expeditions has just the vacation for you: A guided trip along the first completed section of the Great Himalayan Trail. Stretching for more than 1,000 miles along the length of Nepal, the GHT will take about 157 days to complete. You'll see eight of the world's 14 peaks over 26,000 feet, including Everest, and cross passes as high as 19,000 feet. It will set you back about $31,000.

Eventually, the trail will stretch from the mighty 26,247-foot peak Nanga Parbat in Pakistan to Namche Barwa in Tibet connecting Bhutan, China, India, Nepal and Pakistan, about 2,500 miles. No completion date has been confirmed.

The Nepal stretch of the Great Himalayan Trail guided with World Expeditions opens in February 2011. Cost is $31,000, not including international flights. 800-0744-135, http://worldexpeditions.co.uk.

LOS ANGELES

ART, NATURE COLLIDE AT GETTY CENTER

At the Getty Center — a companion museum to its older sibling, the Getty Villa in Malibu — the views from the Santa Monica mountains vie for attention with the art, and the art is amazing. Trams carry visitors from the underground parking garage up to a complex designed by noted architect Richard Meier. The buildings are made mostly of golden brown travertine; the landscaping includes a cactus garden and a maze.

The art collection features modern sculpture, and European and American paintings, drawings, decorative arts and illuminated manuscripts. Paintings are housed on the top floors of the buildings to take advantage of natural light. Walk into a gallery of European impressionists and enjoy Monet's water lilies, Van Gogh's irises, works by Pissarro, Renoir, Degas, Gauguin, Cezanne and Manet, a walk-in art history textbook.

"Urban Panoramas," a special photography exhibition, runs through June 6.

The Getty Center is at 1200 Getty Center Drive. Free admission; $15 parking. Closed Monday. 310-440-7300, http://getty.edu

— Advertiser Staff