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Tourists tell Seattle how to handle the heat

caption: The Trujillo family of New Mexico plans to flee Seattle this weekend for the cooler climes of Forks, on Washington's Olympic Peninsula
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The Trujillo family of New Mexico plans to flee Seattle this weekend for the cooler climes of Forks, on Washington's Olympic Peninsula
KUOW Photo/Joshua McNichols

The Puget Sound region is getting ready for a heat wave this weekend. A lot of people in the area aren't used to temperatures in the upper 90s, or past 100, but some of the tourists on Seattle's waterfront are used to that kind of heat. They shared some of their advice on how to stay comfortable.

"For me, it's more of a mindset," said Tristan Watkins of Chicago. "You know at the end of the day, you're gonna go to someplace that is gonna be nice and cool. It's gonna have air conditioning. You're gonna be fine in this type of crazy heat."

KUOW: "I should mention that a lot of people in Seattle don't have air-conditioning."

"Oh, really? Oh wow. I never knew that. OK. Stay hydrated."

caption: Tristan Watkins is visiting Seattle's waterfront from Chicago.
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Tristan Watkins is visiting Seattle's waterfront from Chicago.
KUOW Photo/Joshua McNichols

"What I learned in Arizona was that you get up early on a hot day, and you take care of business by 10 o'clock," said Cindy Dickson of Tuscon, Arizona. "And then you stay inside in the middle of the day, like, you know, and then maybe venture out in the evening."

caption: Cindy Dickson and Zels Bryan Johnson of Tuscon, Arizona.
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Cindy Dickson and Zels Bryan Johnson of Tuscon, Arizona.
KUOW Photo/Joshua McNichols

"They have a mountain down there called Mount Lemmon," said Zels Bryan Johnson, also of Tuscon. "And when it gets really hot, we get in the car and drive up to Mount Lemmon. And here, you've got Mount Rainier, you've got Mount Baker. And there's water, there's water everywhere."

caption: Mariam Alnassim of Seattle grew up in Spokane without air-conditioning. Her advice: jump in a lake.
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Mariam Alnassim of Seattle grew up in Spokane without air-conditioning. Her advice: jump in a lake.
KUOW Photo/Joshua McNichols

Mariam Alnassim lives in Seattle now, but grew up in Spokane without air-conditioning. She thinks air-conditioning's overrated.

"My biggest suggestion would probably be to just get to the water," she said. "That's what me and my family have always done; we would just go to the lake every day that we could when it was hot. And then you'd finally get to the water and everything's so hot around you that it just felt like jumping into happiness."

caption: Harsimran Bath is visiting Seattle from Michigan.
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Harsimran Bath is visiting Seattle from Michigan.

Harsimran Bath, visiting from Michigan, recommends dressing appropriately, which means shorts and tank tops, even while working. He works in tech, where he said they're tolerant of that kind of thing. One of his favorite things to do is walk to Starbucks for a cold drink.

"I get iced chai with almond milk," he said. "I don't know, for me, it's just kind of rejuvenating ."

caption: Louisa Williams is visiting from New Jersey.
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Louisa Williams is visiting from New Jersey.
KUOW Photo/Joshua McNichols

Louisa Williams of New Jersey sometimes carries around a hand fan.

"I'm African. So... depending on the ethnic group you're in, people design them themselves. So for example, my grandmother makes a lot of the ones that we have in the house and she has like different embroideries on them and like things that you like on them. So it's kind of cool. It's like a little part of you outside too."

William's favorite fan has "Louisa" stitched on it. It also has an orange, symbolizing Syracuse University, where she went to school, along with some other "granny stuff, you know. Things like that."

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