Let me share my story - I have a Nikon D70 DSLR, a wonderful camera that I was very happy with. I used it for about 4 years, but as time went by I realised that since it was too heavy to carry around every day, it made me miss a lot of spontaneous shots. I am the kind of person who loves to keep a camera in her bag just in case there's something interesting around.
This led me to a decision to buy a top-level P&S (maybe it can be viewed as a bridge camera) named Canon Powershot G9. I thought I'd carry this one around and use the DSLR for planned shots. Guess what happened. I never came back to the DSLR. The G9 (and later G10, and hopefully G12 very soon once I manage to sell my G10) has everything that a DSLR has - manual mode, shooting in RAW, possibility to add an external flash etc. And it's relatively small and light AND pretty (it looks like a camera, not like a toy).
Here be what G12 looks like:
It's not a cheap one, but it's a one-time investment, unlike with DSLRs where you need to buy expensive lenses and whatnot.
Plus there is one thing that is rarely mentioned - when switching from P&S to DSLF your shot won't get great. At first your shots will most probably be WORSE until you learn to use it properly. Since you write you plan to use the auto mode, I think it's a waste of money to invest into such a device. Of course, DSLR shots do tend to be better once you handle the camera, so it might be worthwhile anyway, but it's good to know there are also other possibilities to achieve better photos.
ETA: On second thought, the G series only has 5x optical zoom, so ignore my suggestion and maybe look at the cameras the others suggested in the top-level non-DSR segment. ;-)