the 70-300 VR is probably a good option
There's certainly a lot of bang for the buck in that lens. I'm unhappy with my own sample, though. Historically, people were told that it's pretty tough to go far beyond 200mm hand-held, and here we are offering 450mm (equivalent) lenses telling people that the VR will automagically fix things up. Well, VR is indeed great, but it's not magical.
Sharpest lens I've got at the moment appears to be my old 20-35mm f/2.8, which is scary if true, because it never reviewed well on chromatic aberration. 18-200 is a great "one lens fits all" thing. My 12-24 is pretty good. The Sigma 30mm f/1.4 is wonderful at night but you have to think a bit.
Ginge, if you're still reading this thread, you have an E7600 and you like taking pics of bosoms. If you're going from an E7600 to a DSLR because you think your pictures will get automagically better with some mysterious aspect of manual control, think on this: the best camera is the one that you always have with you, and the one others aren't concerned about. I'm a Nikon guy, but my pocket camera is currently a Ricoh GX200. You should check it out: all the manual controls you want, and it slips into a pocket. You don't have to get a DSLR to take very acceptable pictures with as much control as you want.