Agreed. Cyclocross bikes are a great combination of near-road-bike geometry and MTB toughness. A MTB will do better off road, and a road bike will go faster. But a cross bike goes faster on the road than a MTB, but it doesn't have that road bike fragility. A cross bike can also take practical urban tires (try getting Nokkian studded tires on a road bike), and it can handle a rack and panniers more easily than a road bike.

Road bikes are perfect if you have a car driving behind you that can instantly fix or replace anything that goes wrong.

Edit: A touring bike has a lot of the good features of the cross bike. But since I already have a Surly Cross Check, I'd stick with that.