On the flight out to The Cordillera International Film Festival in Revo, Nevada, Delta stopped over in Saint Paul, Minnesota for about 3 hours.
I walked to a deserted section of the airport and decided I should get lunch/dinner. The airport restaurant I decided to sit in was called the Bottle Rocket which boasted good local food.
There was literally no one in the place when I arrived except the two servers. I ordered a burger and salad and calculated the risks of eating mask less. The airport air circulation system was being worked on and there were open ducts right outside the Bottle Rocket. The waitress apologized for the draft since the air was blowing right at my table. I considered this an advantage hoping that the breeze might be fresh air blowing into the restaurant. I went mask less long enough to wolf my meal down and then masked up to sketch. I wish there were outdoor dining options at airports but I suppose that would be a security risk.
The waitress kept refilling my Coke. I got a straw from the bar and would lift my mask briefly, hold my breath and sip, then pull it up and exhale hard before breathing again. I’m sure this is a flawed system but a meal was needed before the next long leg of the trip. I would rather risk the airport air in a relatively empty restaurant than the air in the sardine can fuselage of a plane. The waitress and bartender were super friendly and I shared my sketch with them when I was done, to break up their day.