It's my birthday, in a week

My mom asked me what my plans were for my birthday, at this point, I'm not really sure.
I was hoping to hang out with my friend, Loretta, and her puppies, but she's not sure if she'll be free or not.
Mom suggested we go on a day trip somewhere and eat at a cute little restaurant and do some shopping. That sounds like a good idea, except that it will be just me and her. Sometimes that can be a little much. I did get an Iowa travel guide earlier this year, so I'm planning on flipping through that and seeing what's close with some cool thing, and then exploring the websites of towns. I would love to go antiqueing, that's always a ton of fun especially in stores you don't normally go to.
I remember one summer, me and my mom went to Gilbert, which is a tiny bit north of here, and explored the 3 shops on their main street, it was pretty fun. There was no talk about life and that stuff, it was just her and me enjoying the day. Last summer we met up with my aunt in a town that the name escapes me now, and went to a fabric store, then a nice little restaurant for lunch and explored their little stores. That was fun too, just a nice girls day.

Only problem with that plan is, we'd have to do it on Friday, because Sat, we have a family get-together on my dad's side (which I'm planning on baking 2 cakes for and making my pizza dip), so that will be kinda busy for us. I guess this trip would be a birthday thing for both of us, as my birthday is July 2nd, and mom's is July 3rd.
I'd love to hang out with Loretta and her puppies though. Course I can always do that some other day, they'll be just old enough to travel outside of their familiarness next week, so there's a couple more weeks before they go to their permanent homes to play with them.

I'd love to do something in the water, especially before the summer's over, I know I have awhile before then. Ames finally got their water park done and open, and I'd love to go hang out there, I wish there was a day that it won't be overflowing with little kids. A few years back, I had a very tiny birthday party at the Ledges (very tiny including me, Kevin, and my friend Karli), we got to eat some good food and walk in the creek. I love walking in the Ledges.
Plus, I'm a Cancer, my sign is a crab, and my planet is the moon which controls the tides, I believe water is my element, so I'd really love to be in the water.

Enough of my rambling, but a question, does anyone live in Iowa and would know of some nice places to visit? Ames, is smack dab in the middle of the state, so I'm thinking 2 hours or less drive is what we're looking at.

Hope everyone has a good weekend, I'm planning on going garage saleing today after work, I'll let you know what I find.