Agree on a DSLR being a great option for some great images - however depending on what you are going to us it for, might consider having another camera too.
I know this sounds expensive .... but hear me out :P

I have a DSLR (Canon 550D) with numerous lenses and have taken it on numerous trips away. However I have been to a number of spots where the sand/dust gets into pretty much everything, so for this reason, we have bought a dust-proof/water-proof/drop-proof point & shoot (Panasonic FT5) and this covers me for all trips.
While the images from the Panasonic are nothing like the Canon - I don't have the stress about getting sand/dust in my lenses etc.

The images taken by a DSLR can be stunning, but maybe consider what you want to do with the images? If you want to blow them up onto a large canvas, you need a decent image to start with ... but if it's some 4x6 prints for an album, or sharing with family & friends on Facebook, there are tons of cameras that will do this job, and also save you some $$ when compared to a DSLR

Just my thoughts