I don’t know if anyone else is feeling like I have, but I’m bored. So I’ve been spending a lot of my free time looking for things to spice up my summer in Ames.

As a general rule, I don’t often go to bars. Therefore, I have limited myself — by at least half — as to what I can do on the weekends this summer.

However, in my quest to do things other than drink, I have found some cool stuff around our fine town.

I recently found a campground, called Hickory Grove, only about fifteen minutes from Ames (near Nevada). Some friends and I camped there two weekends ago and had a great time.

The campground has a store for all your camping needs (bug spray and sunscreen are a must), a beach for swimming, tons of sights, hiking trails and as much fishing as you seafood lovers can stand.

It was a little hot out there, but we found a huge open meadow to play Frisbee, and there were no other campers around to disturb our peace and quiet.

Just down the road about a mile, there is another campground called Twin Anchors. This one was a little packed since it has a lot of people who live there year-round.

Twin Anchors is a little more expensive at $15 a night, but it has more things to do. Their amenities include a lake, a hillside waterslide, paddle boat and canoe rentals and a store with a snack bar that sells the closest thing to a Blizzard I’ve ever had without going to DQ for only $1.85.

Not to mention it’s got several picnic shelters and even a nine-hole golf course complete with a clubhouse.

For all you people who think these campgrounds sound good but you want more nature, check out Ledges State Park.

Gorgeous scenery abounds with plenty of nature and trails. You can’t beat the stream that crosses the road for wading on a hot day.

I myself love the outdoors, so anywhere I can ride my bike, hike, camp and play Frisbee is perfect for me. However, some people like more indoor activities.

I’ve found that a new addition to Ames called Club Utopia is a good bet. It’s got excellent atmosphere with trippy lights, smoke machines, mirrored wall, a little chill-out room complete with couches and a big-screen television playing virtual reality movies.

Club Utopia offers a nice escape from the cheesy tunes consistently cranked out at ever bar in town.

If you’re like me and you hate that damn train song and hate “Love Shack” even more, the Latin, house, underground and trance sounds from Club Utopia will be a welcome sound to your ears.

Still haven’t found anything you like? Maybe you are unentertainable. Even so, when I’m really bored and I’m short on cash, I like to ride bikes or even take a walk around town.

You’d be surprised how much you can find when you aren’t flying by in a car.

Being a self-diagnosed insomniac, I found doing all my grocery shopping at three or four in the morning can be a good experience and even a little exciting.

You don’t have to ask people to move out of your way to get to the milk, and there are no lines at the check-out, a must for the antisocial shopper.

You will also enjoy the vast array of people you will see at the store at that time of night, ranging from zombies to just plain weird.

If you like the adventurous side of grocery shopping, be sure to look for the triops at Save-U-More.

It’s some freaky prehistoric creature in suspended animation that you add water to make it come alive. This is a real creature that looks like a mix between a centipede and a horseshoe crab. And for only $4.99, this cannibalistic crustacean that lives for a mere twenty days can be yours.

If you still haven’t found anything to do in Ames after my suggestions, there are always the old favorites: getting drunk and puking. But that’s up to you.

Remember, dancing and camping don’t make your head pound and your stomach wretch the next day.

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Sheila Collins is a senior in journalism and mass communications from Council Bluffs.