From the Chicago Trib:

INDIANA DUNES NATIONAL LAKESHORE, Near Michigan City, Ind.

Miles of beach, some with names and certain characteristics: Lakeview is nice for families, Central is one of the rare public-beach areas that invites your dog to swim along. Plus there are dunes trails and quality exhibits and programs we’ve come to expect from the National Park Service.

It’s very crowded on summer weekends. Two million come here annually, mostly in summer; another million come to the adjacent state park.

“Summer’s always fun,” says Koepke, who grew up in the shadow of the park’s famous dune, 123-foot-high Mt. Baldy, “but I like the fall too. Much less crowded, and if the wind is right and the lake is right, you can still have warm lake temperatures.”

One downside: Michigan City’s huge shoreline power plant, well to the east but a lurking presence nonetheless. Another: Parking on a summer Sunday can be gone well before church lets out.