Ok, I went into a few bike stores. Looked at a bunch of bikes, and one store had a HARO MTB (flightline model).
http://www.harobikes.com/mtb/bikes/flightline_one.php# He highly recommended that bike with a tire that was smooth in the center and knobby on the sides. It was priced at $359 ....any advice is welcome,
and thanks for the help so far.