I've been shooting photography for about 6 years now and have run through a few cameras.
Best experience was with a Nikon D90 (it was my dad's and my first time really using a DSLR). It's very user friendly, with a lot of auto modes, but also has manual modes so you can try to experiment with it. The body runs for roughly $900 nowadays.
Best lens I've ever used (for general purpose or being the only lens I could carry) is the Nikon 30-200mm f/3.5-5.6 lens. Great image quality and fairly fast. Comes with VR and AF on it so it's a solid walkaround lens. It can go from $500 to $800, depending on sales and all that.**Note** I learned after a few years to get a polarizer for every lens I know. It makes the difference from "good" photos to amazing photos. They're about $100 a pop, but can be used between lenses with the same radius.
Tripods are a lot like cars, they all do the same thing and it comes down to small preference differences and different price points. I've used the same carbon fiber tripod that I got 4 years ago from Best Buy for $175. No complaints.
Case and bag setup is my favorite part of the photography game
Favorite bag by far is the Lowepro Rover pack. It's a solid adventure bag (price goes between $250-350). Best camera case (hard case) is a Pelican 1500. Literally bulletproof and I have a small arsenal of Pelican cases because they're simply amazing. They run from $60-150.Hope this helps