Tomsd

Staying in La Jolla is fine - and you can drive down La Jolla Blvd - which eventually becomes Mission Blvd in Pacific Beach/Mission Beach in about 10 minutes to the surf shops.

In Pacific Beach - check out the Catamaran Resort - on the bay side - or the tall condo tower - Capri by the Sea - which is directly overlooking the ocean/beach.

Coronado's 4th of July parade is great - but do get there early in time to park and watch the parade and then maybe walk/saunter around Coronado.

At night - there any number of fireworks shows on the 4th of July - from down by the Mexican Border at Imperial Beach - 30 miles north to Carlsbad - with usually three barges on San Diego Bay having fireworks, and Sea World - and also at Ocean Beach and La Jolla, Del Mar, and on and on.

We usually catch the show downtown (have also driven over to Ocean Beach and stood on/by the pier) - and then get over to see the later one at Sea World, which is every night during the summer - but bigger on the 4th of July.

Tomsd

Beth - just posted on another thread about the Surfari Surf shop - in the 3700 block of Mission Blvd - where my niece took surfing lessons (a 3? day course) - but if you don't like that one for some reason - there are a couple others (Mission Beach Surf shop) within a couple of blocks.

Have a blast.

BethL3

Wow - thanks everyone for all the suggestions! Life got busy so vacation planning was postponed. Still planning a trip to California, but now it is looking like it will be in August instead of July. My three girls are 18, 16 and 13 so it's great to have lots of options for things to do.

BethL3

Time to book lodging for our trip. Hotels seem so expensive that I am considering renting a place for the extra bedroom and bath so we have more room to spread out. No idea where to stay. Want to be near beach. With teens, should we stay in the Mission Beach area? Would like walking distance to shopping/restaurants/things to do.