I think the Canon PowerShot A80 would be a good choice. It's within ur price range..maybe even around $300 and it takes great pictures (my friend has it). I don't have any experience with the Canon PowerShot S1 IS but it also looks good, specially the 10x zoom and optical image stabilizer. Good luck!
Thanks for the replies. A friend recommended this site: http://dpreview.com/reviews/compare.asp
Entered my parameters, and the highest recommended camera were the Fujifilm FinePix 2800 Zoom, the Fujifilm FinePix S602Z, the Olympus C-740 UZ, and the Fujifilm FinePix 3800.