If you're going with walk-about blogs then a point and shoot might actually be the best option, they're cheap, come in funky colours and very portable. A lot of them also have automatic focus and lighting settings to help quickly adapt to new conditions (going inside a shop for example).
DSLR's have great quality however they're more geared at manual set up which can take some time for a grab and go scenario. That said, 'Beginner' range DSLR style compact cameras are a great mid-level approach. It's always good to learn about differences in lenses, settings for ISO, shutter speed etc through a hobby or pursuit like YouTube.
I recently bought a new camera because my old Bridge camera got stolen (note, don't bother with Bridge cameras, they are very middle of the road and aren't good at being any one thing). I went with a Canon EOS M (This is NOT A PLUG PEOPLE!) and so far it's served me very well, it's much more compact than standard DSLR's and has the option for inter-changable lenses. For the kind of thing you're talking about I'd go for the 22mm lens because it's very compact and a good all-rounder. Best thing about the EOS M though is it's a very good camera, but they screwed up the autofocus feature and made it very slow, the camera got mauled in reviews because of it and Canon had to slash the price to make it competitive. They've since fixed the AF problem but the price point is still fantastic for how good a camera it is.
I'm in love. Clearly.
