If your group chat is currently a chaotic mess of "wait are we still doing the coast for the 4th" and nobody has actually booked anything, this one's for you. Even though my allegiance is more with hot dogs and blowing shit up this weekend rather than America, it's still a fun weekend with family and friends. I live down here. I photograph restaurants and boutique hotels down here. And every year I watch the 101 turn into a slow moving parade of cars packed with coolers and those low to the ground almost ass in the sand chairs you get from Costco, all headed to the same stretch of beach I get to call my backyard.

So consider this your cheat sheet: where to stay, where to eat, and what's actually happening this weekend, from Tokeland down through the Long Beach Peninsula.

Tokeland: Small, Salty, & definitely Worth the Detour

Tokeland doesn't try very hard to get your attention, which is exactly why I love it. It's a sleepy fishing village with a wild, slightly windswept charm, and the 4th of July is when it briefly remembers it's a tourist town. There's a parade and a picnic happening right in town, plus a fireworks show. If the show isn’t enough for you personally, you can buy fireworks from one of the stands right down the road and set them off on the beach yourself, which, depending on your childhood, is either completely normal or feels illegal in the best way. Please remember though to keep them away from the dunes even though it’s been raining all week!

Where to stay: The Tokeland Hotel, Washington's oldest continuously operating hotel, and it has the creaky floors and ghost stories to prove it. It's the kind of place that makes you want to put your phone away.

Where to eat: The Wandering Goose because it’s literally in the Tokeland Hotel and has the best steak frites I’ve ever had.

Long Beach Peninsula: The Main Event

If Tokeland is the warm up, the Long Beach Peninsula is where the holiday actually peaks. Here's the breakdown if you're driving down Friday through Sunday.

Friday kicks off with the Long Beach Friday Market downtown, local vendors, food stands, the whole festive market energy. Then as the sun starts to drop, head to Ilwaco, where the marina fills with boats and the waterfront fills with people for one of the region's most beloved fireworks shows over the Port of Ilwaco.

Saturday is a full day. Early risers can knock out the Ilwaco Firecracker 5K before the heat (or fog, let's be honest, it's the coast) sets in. The Ilwaco Saturday Market follows at the port with crafts, food, and music. Then everyone migrates north to Ocean Park for the 1 p.m. parade, proudly small town, proudly patriotic, exactly the kind of Americana you came here for. And Saturday night is the big one: the Long Beach fireworks show, set right over the Pacific. Watching fireworks reflect off the ocean while you're sitting in the sand hits different than any backyard show ever will.

Sunday slows things down with a Peninsula Clean Up Day, which is honestly a nice way to give back to the beach that just hosted your entire weekend, and a good excuse to stretch the trip one more day while you hit the shops and restaurants you didn't get to yet.

Where to stay: Adrift Hotel and the Shelburne Hotel cover both ends of the vibe spectrum. Adrift is moody, modern, oceanfront; the Shelburne is historic, charming, full of character. Inn at Discovery Coast is a great call if you want more space and a quieter setting just outside the chaos. Adults only if that’s your vibe.

Where to eat and drink: Pickled Fish, on top of the Adrift, has the best sunset with a cocktail view on the peninsula, full stop. The Sandbar if your group can’t decide on what to eat. It’s a full restaurant with beer and cocktails and food trucks just right outside that you can order from and bring in! And of course, Drop Anchor Bistro on Sunday morning when you absolutely need a mimosa and a breakfast sandwich on some of the best sourdough on the peninsula.

Don't skip: Snoddy's Burgers at the Ilwaco Saturday Market. He's all over your feed right now for a reason, and one bite explains everything.

You don't need a six month plan to have a great coastal 4th of July. You need a cooler, a decent hotel, and a rough sense of when the fireworks start. Pick your basecamp, Tokeland for quiet and salt air, the Peninsula for full holiday chaos, and let the rest figure itself out.

xoxo Chelsea