SAIPANDA JOINED US ON THE RED RIVER SKI LIFT!

Saipanda is Saipan's tourism "mascot," for lack of a better term. No, there are no pandas on Saipan. The gimmick comes from the fact (as it has been described to me) that the prefix sai- in Japanese means "horned" and the suffix -da means "come to." So, in Japanese, to say "come to Saipan," you say "Saipan-da!). Now sort of combine Japanese and English in the same thought and the word Saipanda means "horned panda!" So, the thing that looks like a yellow carrot for his nose is supposed to be a horn. I guess it's sort of like a rhinoceros horn except with no real nose under it.

Oh well: I think he enjoyed the New Mexico mountains!

gaaredrivernewmexicoskiliftsaipandabribev