Here it is in a nutshell:

My wife and I are going to SF in mid-October. Currently, she and I use a Canon SD1000 and Canon TX1, respectively. We want to take better pictures on our trip than our PaS cameras can provide.

The struggle we're both having is deciding whether to get a mirrorless model or a standard full-body DSLR.

Here's my thoughts:

• the thing that attracts us most to the micro 4/3rds and the like is the small body, which of course will be a little easier on our trip
• the DSLRs would be more full-featured, and technically take better photos
• we're complete novices to real photography, so we might not ever take advantage of those extra features on a full DSLR
• we'd like to learn more, but there's no guarantee that we'll actually get into this as a real hobby
• we won't be spending more than $600-700 on the initial investment, and I don't see us affording additional lenses for at least a year

In case it isn't apparent, I'm currently leaning towards the micro 4/3rds format due to the size of the camera and a slightly greater focus on hand-holding newbies. The front-runner for me, based on price and reviews, is the Olympus E-PL1. It's not as sturdily built as its Olympus siblings, but it has a great price tag, averaging at most places for about $540.