4th of July holiday is a great American holiday and an excellent long weekend to spend outdoors with friends and family (hopefully, assuming you get Friday and/or Monday off).

Some of the best activities to do this year in the San Francisco Bay Area include:

1. Watching Fireworks from the Berkeley Marina.

• LOCATION: Berkeley Marina: 201 University - (See map)
• TIME: 12PM to Fireworks at 9:30PM
• ACTIVITIES for kids: Decorating bikes and/or strollers with recyclables at Madame Ovary's booth. Adventure Playground is open from 11AM to 8PM. Also, there will be sack races and face painting. There is also an awesome giant slide at the beach
• ACTIVITIES for adults: Great International food booths, live entertainment from 12PM to 9PM, arts and crafts booths, free sailboat rides from 1PM to 4PM, dragon boat rides from 2PM to 6PM

2. Fireworks and SF Sympthony at the Shoreline Ampitheatre. Radio Disney Presents The 23rd Annual 4TH OF JULY FIREWORKS SPECTACULAR with THE SAN FRANCISCO SYMPHONY “A Look To The Future” with music from 2001: A Space Odyssey, The Planets, Star Wars and a Star Trek retrospective special guest GEORGE TAKEI $10 Parking per car will be charged at the Door. Visit Livenation to find tickets.

3. Hornblower 4th of July Dinner Cruise. Enjoy the best view of the fireworks from the deck of a Hornblower yacht. Cruise around the San Francisco Bay with up close views of the fireworks, a buffet dinner and D.J. entertainment. Seating is pre-assigned Cruise Style seating. Your party will share an assigned table with other guests. A great way to see the fireworks up close from the best view in the bay. Dress warm as the SF weather on the water will likely be cold and windy as the night goes on.

4. BBQ. Play patriotic music, such as "Yankee Doodle Dandy," "America the Beautiful" and - of course - Sousa marches, especially "The Stars and Stripes Forever." Serve hamburgers, hot dogs, potato salad, deviled eggs, corn on the cob, watermelon, lemonade, apple pie or other fun desserts made in patriotic colors. Buy a ton of beer, soft drinks and liquor so that the party goers have enough drinks to last the whole day/evening. Buy enough liquor that you won't have to do a drink run obviously.

5. Play Football at your BBQ. Playing sports at your BBQ like Football or Baseball is a great way to spend the 4th of July with your friends over hot dogs, burgers and beers.

6. Buy illegal fireworks. Nothing is more fun than buying your own fireworks to light off at your local school playground. Purchase them from a mom and pop's store in China town in San Francisco or from roadside vendors in Dublin or Stockton. My favorites are roman candles, bottle rockets and M-80s. Be careful when doing this obviously and don't get caught by local police, as you will get a ticket and possibly a hefty fine. Not to mention, they will steal the remainer of your fireworks if there are any left when you get caught. Be safe and don't drink while you do this obviously.

Hope you have a Happy 4th of July like I am!