The three hottest days of summer may have come to pass in Harford County, but the season of heat is not over yet. With at least one more month of warm weather to endure, several places in the area are becoming popular hangouts to beat the heat.
On a Monday afternoon, the Riverside Community Pool near Aberdeen may not have been as packed as on a Saturday morning, but a lot of people were enjoying the sun and warmth, with a quick remedy for heat nearby.
Kara DeFord, of Riverside, was lounging on one of the chairs reading, but said her favorite things to do to combat the high temperatures all involved water. She and her three boys often go to the pool, tubing in Deer Creek and swimming at Sandy Point State Park to cool off.
The heat of summer doesn't bother her much, either.
"I like warm weather," she said, "so I don't mind it."
On the other side of the pool, Valerie Scott, of Riverside, was reading as well as two of her three children splashed in the pool. As a summer person, Scott said she visits the pool almost every day and drives with the windows down to enjoy the weather.
"I am summer all the way," she said. "I like winter for like a week."
Relaxing in the shade of a pavilion was a group with two New Yorkers in tow, Edward Ayoub was visiting the area. Even though he said the weather isn't much different from in New York, he is not a fan of summer heat and tries to spend his time inside with the air-conditioning.
"I love when it snows," he said. "I don't like the heat."
Ayoub was in mixed company, however, as 14-year-old Aida Mansour, of Riverside, quickly said, "I like the summer." Far off from the pavilion and partially buried in the sand of the volleyball court was Monica Attia, a 16-year-old from Riverside who, too, was with the group.
Like Ayoub, though, Monica did not like the summer weather, or really, even being out at the pool.
"I'm kind of a homey person," she said. "I like to stay home."
She takes cold showers, too, and tries to stay under a rooftop. Her favorite season, she added, was spring when its "not too hot, not too cold."
Staying inside with the air conditioning was a common theme, at least at the Aberdeen Library. Several people walked around the cool building, searching for books and in some cases, movies.
Monica and Alexa, 6, Warfield, of Aberdeen, were browsing the CD section as Alexa searched for a Justin Bieber CD. They come to the library pretty often, Warfield said, to get DVDs and books to enjoy at home as they combat the heat by, "basically, trying not to leave the house."
As an employee of Harford County Public Schools, Warfield said she enjoyed her summers off.
"This summer it's just been too hot," she said.
Alexa, too, agreed, saying she preferred the winter and liked the cold. But another library attendee, Brendon Pennington, of Aberdeen, was on the same page as Warfield. To deal with the high temperatures, he said he stays inside or goes swimming at the Conowingo Pool.
"I like summer," he said. "But I don't like it this hot."
Out in at Tydings Park on the Susquehanna Flats in Havre de Grace, the high temperatures were easier to bear with a light breeze blowing off of the water. Even so, the humidity was a little too much for Bel Air resident and Australian native Carolyn Stepp.
"I just don't like the humidity," she said, adding that it wasn't as oppressive in Australia.
Other than that, however, Stepp did say the weather, that day at least, was "great" with the breeze. With Stepp was Alison Dragunas, a Bel Air resident from England, who said she spent most of her time inside to deal with the weather.
"This is the first time I've sat outside for any length of time," she said.
Both women were at the park with their children and in addition to staying inside, had an interesting way to deal with the hot weather. Stepp even went so far as to check out books from the library about snow and read them to her children.
For Ira Melvin Jones, of Aberdeen, the heat wasn't so hard to bear. As a resident of a duplex with two small window air conditioning units, Jones was well used to the high temperatures as he watched birds from a picnic table in Tydings Park.
"I don't have that much trouble because heat doesn't bother me that much," he said.
Jones isn't the only local who doesn't let the high temperatures bother him or change his daily routine. For Rebecca Angelucci, of Port Deposit and Colora, and Delta resident Matt Kineke, the only option is to fight the heat and not let it stop them from being active.
"I've been swimming a lot this week," Angelucci said.
Even though it can get too hot too swim, she later said, Angelucci still stays outside and active.
"You have to stay active," she said. "You have to get fresh air."
That said, Angelucci did acknowledge that the heat was hard on her animals. With the puppies panting so much in the heat, she said she had to keep them inside in the air conditioning. She also kept her horses in the shady barn during the day and let them roam at night.
"It's too hot during the day," she added.
For people, at the very least, the duo agreed it was a "shared adversity." Dealing with the heat was something everyone had to do and even though short term remedies, like Kineke driving in his car because of the air conditioning, can help, there's really not much anyone can do but commiserate about it.
"You just have to endure it," Kineke said. "I mean, there's nothing you can do about it until it passes."