When you grow up in the Midwest, you just don't think of beaches. But Michigan's got them. The shoreline is dotted with small and large beaches, some with with lots of fine sand, others with as much gravel as sand. The state has maintained a good network of small public access beaches all along the lakes. However, they have been careful to minimize the available parking near many of them. This discourages tourists (FIPs or "Friendly Illinois People", if you know what I really mean) while making lake access readily available for local residents. The above picture is Lincoln Township Beach which has parking and public access but never gets much more crowded than this.
Lake Michigan is "refreshing". By that I mean cold. When we have an extended period of warm sunny weather in the summer with little wind, the upper layer of the lake can warm up to over 80 deg F. However, all it takes is a bit of wind or a storm to get the lake to "turn over" and it will be right back down into the 50's in a day. However, near the shore, the temperature is usually in the 60's on the warm summer days and that's about right.