Unless you have a specific requirement, such as sports (fast focus and operation, longer fast lenses) or low light photography (high ISO, fast lenses or both) or indoor toddlers (fast and low light), I'd recommend a Nikon or Canon a step or two up from the bottom of their DSLR lines and a kit lens.

It might take more than a half day to learn :-). Once you have a good idea of photographic technique and are very familiar with your equipment, you can figure out next steps.

It's likely that any current Nikon or Canon DSLR will be more than adequate. People tend to spend too much time thinking about camera bodies, less but still too much time thinking about lenses and not nearly enough on technique or gear like tripods.