PlanJam!From your screen to the scene

Feeling the need to get your sea and sand on? Then Mission Beach is the place you want to go. With miles of continuous boardwalk running north from Ocean Beach to and beyond Pacific Beach along the Southern California coast, the beach known for the giant roller coaster ride has almost as many attractions as an amusement park. Ask not "what's there to do there besides swim?" but rather: "what don't they do down on Mission Beach?"

Care to shop? You can buy your swimwear, t-shirt, towels, and tanning lotion at Gone Bananas Swimwear, or right across the boardwalk at the Wings Swimwear Store #101, while cute-girl shopping goes on relentlessly at The Basement.

If you've forgotten your board at the office, try Emerald City Surf and Sport or Liquid Foundation Surfboards. They'll sell you all the long or short boards you need to begin your professional career. You say you don't already know how to surf? Impossible! That's why there's Endless Summer – an official surf camp for the City of San Diego. They'll rent you a board, teach you to surf, provide you the latest surf conditions – even congratulate you when you win your first competition. They do it all! You can test your new-found skills "surfing" the artificial wave machine at Mission Beach's famous WaveHouse.

Of course if you're not quite ready to hang ten just yet, why not surf the boardwalk instead? Try hanging two, four, or eight with the bike, skateboard, or rollerblades available at Cheap Rentals.

Now since all this activity is sure to work up an appetite, you'll want to remember to bring your burgers, buns, and charcoal briquettes to the BBQ containers the city provides (on a first come, first served basis, of course). Not that you have to cook for yourself, of course. At Mission Beach?!?! You'd never begin to run out of places to get your food and beverage on if you tried: Cane's Bar & Grill serves food and beer all day and live bands (and more beer) all night; Saska's Steak & Seafood's got your surf and turf, while Mission Bar-B-Que…well, you can guess their specialty. And there are more burger joints and taco stands than you can shake a burrito at.

You only think you're having fun now! Get yourself down to Mission Beach and find out where it's really happening – and don't forget to park in the public lot!