I am a complete newbie here when it comes to biking, other than the small amount of curb hopping I did as a child, I haven't touched one. I love the outdoors and camping and hiking and whatever I can get involved in when I am not on call or working. Anyways, I have purchased a relatively inexpensive Nishiki Alamosa, 26" wheels, 20" frame etc. I know it isn't the greatest bike, but for starters it will have to do until I am ready to get into it a little more serious (open to suggestions here for a next bike purchase). The long short is this: I am finding I do more road biking than trail for the moment, and want to buy a set of road wheels that I can put on my bike instead of killing myself with the off road tires I have now. I feel like I am working way harder than I have to and all these guys on their skinny wheel bikes are just flying by me. As far as I can tell it is not a disc brake setup and it is a 7 speed. I just want to be able to pop the current wheelset off and swap out for some slicks when I go on the bike trail nearby instead of the more gravelly trails. Any and all advice and guidance on this matter will be appreciated muchly!

In all honesty, Doc, you would be better served with a 700 sized bike, of he type of your choosing.

For the time being, just get new tires, as narrow as will fit the wheel, and slick. Then ride for a while and save up for a 700c road bike.

Instead of getting a full new wheel set to swap, just get road tires to fit the rims currently? And of course save for a 700 road bike?

My only advice is look on craigslist for a more road specific bike or hybrid - Different wheels on that bike you have now will not serve you much benefit.

If you like everything else about the bike, just get a set of decent hybrid tires suited for both pavement and "gravelly trails"?
The Kenda Kwicks are well suited for this:
Kenda Kwick Tire > Components > Tires and Tubes > Tires | Jenson USA Online Bike Shop

Another wheelset is a more expensive option as you'll need the wheels, tires, tubes, rim strips and a matching 7-speed cassette, the latter of these items possibly being difficult to find as 8-speed is sort of the standard minimum cassette these days.
For the cost of all that, it might be cheaper to find a used road bike on craigslist.

Okay awesome. Things I should have considered before originally purchasing the bike. Haha. I appreciate all the advice though, you all have been a tremendous help!! I will most likely keep the bike as a beginner trail bike and start looking into finding a more road suitable one. In the meantime though, any suggestions as to how to make my ride a little better despite it's mountain bike predisposition? Again, I really am new in the biking lifestyle I guess you could say so all of this has been very enlightening.

In the meantime, just slick tires. A separate wheelset would be a huge pain. You'd also need a cassette set up exactly the same way so you wouldn't have to adjust the derailleur every time you swapped wheels.

I've only been road biking for 6 or 7 years...an amazing thing, really, as years ago I swore I'd never be caught dead wearing spandex and riding skinny tires...yet I digress. My intro to road biking was on a GT Zum commuter (looks a lot like their triple-triangle-framed mountain bikes) w/ 26" wheels and the smoothest tires I could find. Even with that, I was getting left in the dust by old ladies on Trek 1000 road bikes, so I made the switch to a real road bike (used Trek) w/ 700c wheels and here I am now w/ my new Cannondale CAAD8 and a closet full of spandex and road jerseys...

What do you want to make "a little better" on your current bike?
Do you mean more comfortable or lighter or faster or...?