Thanks so much for all the help. If drop bar bikes aren't great for novices then I may jump on the FX 2 tomorrow - you think it'll be fine for my purposes? Seems to have great reviews on reddit & elsewhere.

I was going to get this for my phone, and then a frame and a bag for carrying some snacks, bike repair tools, rain gear, etc. For all these items, do you think it's fine to go for Amazon items with great reviews? Our local bike store prepared a quote in which two bikes summed to $1,200, but then added on ~10 other items to bring the total cost to $2,700...I found almost all of these extras on Amazon for a significantly better price. For example, they wanted a $135 for a bike headlight, while there's multiple with great reviews on Amazon for under $20 (and we aren't even going to be riding at night, but wanted some lights for a few tunnels on the trail).

My mother and girlfriend are going to be meeting us each night at the next hotel, so we have the logistics part down. I was planning on leaving them with a bike pump and other heavy repair gear since they'll be at most 50 miles away at any given time, but haven't fully thought that out yet.

Thanks again, really appreciate it!