Thanks for all your help. I've checked into some of your recommendations - I think most are out of my price range, but we'll see. I'm not really comfortable buying a bike in pieces - is this something that you can do yourself without much bike knowledge or do you take it to your local store?

To answer CA_in_NC (or was it vice versa?), I was considering a cross just to have more versatility. I mountain bike pretty regularly, and the thought of having a bike with which I could cut through the park sounded appealing. I'm definitely having some stand-over issues, so any higher of a bar would not work.

I'll continue to research and test ride, and I'll let you know if I find anything good.