[Phriend]

Hi Friends,

I currently live in Howell, Michigan -- but I'm thinking about moving to a coastal city along one of the Great Lakes. That said, what coastal city do you think would be most appealing to a 28-year old? (Ideally I'd like to find that has a lot of people my own age).

Any suggestions?

[Hangargal]

Traverse City (Lake Michigan beaches,) has many young people, as does Mt. Clemens (Lake St. Clair beaches.) Or maybe Port Huron (Lake Huron beaches.)

[SouperStar34]

The beaches suck in Traverse City.

Although it IS a beatiful city... make sure you bring shoes when you go to the beach - it is all rock!

I would try:

1) St. Joseph (Silver Beach)
2) Grand Haven
3) Holland

[Wrinkle]

Muskegon Pere Marquette Park has been rated as one of the cleanest beaches in the nation for the Great Lakes last year and will probably be in the future as well.

[Rapunzll]

Souper- the beaches in TC suck? You have to be kidding me, have you never been, or have you only been to the ones with low water levels? There are tons of great beaches in and around TC.

[jaybrad77]

Muskegon is cool, Montague Pier is nice too.

[mike231]

Yeah,
Traverse City beaches, sometimes they won't even let you swim in the water.

[allbusiness]

Grand Haven, Holland, Saugatuck, South Haven, or St. Joseph.

You gotta love those sunsets!

[Rapunzll]

Mike, I've lived in TC since 1986 and I can only think of two times when the beaches were shut down.

[mike231]

Rapunzll,
I have lived in this area (Antrim & GTC) for 40+ years. When I was younger I was never told not to swim in the water, except for the occasional problem with "swimmer's itch" and this was is in Elk Lake..
Anyways I didn't say they closed the beaches, I said they won't let you swim in the water...
If more than 300 E.Coli/100ml are present in a water sample it is considered unsafe for swimming.
This is what I found for 2003
Kid's Creek @ 1,986/100ml on 8/26/03
Boardman River @ 517/100ml on 5/14/03
Suttons Bay Creek @ 727/100ml on 8/26/03
Traverse City State Park beach @ 518/100ml on 6/9/03
Milliken Park beach @ 2419/100ml on 6/09/03
So you're right, the beaches aren't shut down because that would be bad for tourism, but it doesn't mean that they are safe to swim in everyday.
But still a very scenic place to live, just don't drink the water