Quoted:
I am finally ready to put down the money for a SLR camera. I want to spend less than $700 and I want to buy it from Best Buy since I can get no interest for 18 months on my credit card there. I am not all at all experienced with digital cameras, but I love to take pictures and I want something that will not have that high a learning curve. I will mostly be taking photos of animals/landscape.
Well, if $700 is your budget and you want to buy from Best Buy, IMO, then you should head on down there and buy the most expensive Nikon or Canon that you can afford. My preference leans towards Nikon as I think that you get more features per dollar, but less resolution and I believe a smaller selection of good lenses. However, I believe that the Nikon will produce better pictures directly out of the camera, which may be good for a newbie or anyone else who doesn't enjoy post-processing.
ETA: The Nikon D5000 is almost exactly $700 at http://www.amazon.com/. Find a review at the following URL: http://www.dpreview.com/reviews/nikond5000/
ETA2: If you want to go with Canon, I see that the EOS Rebel T1i is around $690 at http://www.amazon.com/. Again, however, I recommend Nikon even though I have shot with Canon primarily up to this point.