As a kid I visited Indiana Dunes (and similar areas along the southeast Lake Michigan coastline), and I have only the vaguest memories of piles of sand. Recently, I read Gary Paul Nabhan’s Cultures of Habitat—definitely recommended reading. Among other things, he discusses growing up in this area and wandering the dune ecosystem. This, he thinks, is part of why he became an ethnobotanist….
Even overcast and windy, I found the place enchanting.
PS Also recommended: Nabhan’s The Desert Smells Like Rain, about the Tohono O’odham people of the Sonoran desert. The lovely, evocative title is from a comment made by a youngster.