The majority of our photos are taken using a Panasonic TZ-1 point & shoot. Panasonic no longer makes the TZ-1 (I think they're up to the TZ-5 or TZ-7 now) but I buy them used on eBay - that way there's no retraining for the Admiral when she breaks one and needs a replacement. She tends to be tough on cameras (last one got run over by a Nissan Pathfinder). The TZ-1 is a nice camera with Image Stabilization and 10X optical zoom. Being an older design, it's only 5 MegPixel and doesn't take the SDHC chips. The USB port is also old and slow - I remove the SD chip and use a newer card reader to download photos.
I also have a digital SLR that I bought specifically to do some macro work (copy slides to digital) that the TZ-1 couldn't handle (no manual close focus, no external flash sync). The 'kit' lens that came with the SLR is OK, but kinda slow (f 4.5?). The camera is more fun for me with an f1.4 lens that I bought for it - can get some nice shots with limited depth of field (besides being able to take available light photos in a cave!)
Short story? Get a good point and shoot and learn to use it. When you find out what you want to do that the camera won't, then consider a digital SLR.