I live in New Mexico where it is extremely dry (unless it is
flash-flooding).

I was thinking of replacing carpet with hardwood, but a guy at the local
Lowes said it's not suitable for arid environments. So he's just a
Lowes lackey, right? Except he started pointing out that all the
hardwood planks on display were cracked. And the more I looked, the
more cracking I found! According to him the cracking (I think he he
called it checking?) is an absolute certainty in this environment,
except maybe the thick solid planks (that aren't suitable for my
concrete slab foundation - no subfloor).

On top of the cracking problem, people I talk to consistently say wood
is not good for high-traffic areas, which is most everywhere in my
relatively small home with 4 kids. There are almost constant wet
spills, dragging around chairs and tables, gritty sand tracked into the
house, etc.

I'm almost convinced that laminate flooring (Pergo) is the better
choice, but the style I like is almost $3.50/sq ft., similar to a fairly
wide variety of engineered hardwoods. I may be moving soon so resale
value counts. And some say wet spills destroy Pergo, too.

I seem to have talked myself out of every option.