Hello everyone,

My first time shopping for an 'adult bike' has lead me to these forums and I'm sure you guys can help me out! I haven't owned a bicycle for around ten years and back then those two wheels of freedom only made it around the neighbor hood and off plywood jumps. The bike I'm looking for now is going to be a reward to myself after finishing up a tour of duty overseas this July. I'll primarily be using it around campus, to parks and paths where I may like to take it on dirt paths occasionally. It will also be taking the place of me purchasing a car, so it will need to be able to take me great distances at a nice speed (on pavement) to visit my parents and what not. I'm planning on riding during the winter in northern Illinois so I'll need to switch out the tires at some point. AND of course it needs to look pretty

I'm looking at spending <800$
The bikes that have caught my eyes so far have been the Trek 7.3FX, the Trek 7300 and the Trek Valencia.

I'm completely open to suggestions of any kind and greatly appreciate it.