The Yashica A camera was a 60's low end model of the twin lens series. I had a 3 element lens I'd advise using at F11 when possible. Results can be surprisingly good. The D model was next and there were two different lenses sold on it, the 3 element Yashikor and the better 4 element Yashinon. I personally love the cameras! I sold a mint D model with the 4 element lens recently for $100 because I don't shoot film anymore. The latest G models can go for $250 and more.
Nikon's 40-2.8 should fit you needs perfectly.
The 50-1.8 is very, very good and much less expensive. Unless you have reason to shoot wide open in very low light I'd go with the 1.8. BTW, I have both. The same goes for Canon where the latest 1.8 is actually better than the 1.4. Just my opinion after years of using them, also backed by tests.
HD size make little or no difference, but going to a faster HD or SSD will, especially an SSD. Ram always helps. I agree that Crucial is a great way to make sure you get the right parts.
I once saw a Henri Cartier-Bresson show and something I noticed is that over the span of many years the increase in speed of film lead to the ability to shoot at smaller apertures for greater depth-of field while still capturing the decisive moment with a short shutter-speed. Also, SS and Aperture, along with zone focus were often preset so an image could be taken instantly. Film grain became finer as well. I think the SLR gave us the ability to see shallow DOF since we're normally looking through the camera with lens wide open so those possibilities became more visibly predicable. Great DOF field was generally harder to see because the finders got much darker and grainier looking at small apertures.
The 50-1.8 makes an ideal portrait lens for an APSC camera, but is normally considered a little short for full frame. At least back off a little when using a FF camera. I think you're probably referring to silver prints which was most B&W prints for over 100 years. A layer of light sensitive silver on paper was the most common printing method in history and is still the basis for most B&W film and paper today.
A color issue could be the white balance setting
As a photography teacher I usually had an assignment shooting your own backyard (or inside home, etc) Some of the best student work came from that assignment, and it forces you to really look at things. After a rainy night I just did the same thing in my yard yesterday.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GWPr-m0do1c
The little lightweight 70-300 AF-P model is very fast focusing and also very sharp. It is more cheaply built and won't cover full frame the way the larger lens does.
I don't know if you're referring to in Las Vegas, or in the area. Valley of Fire State Park is an hour away and has incredible rock formations. Very hot in the summer but may be ideal when you're there.
If a scene is of reasonable contrast range jpeg does OK. When there is a great difference between highlight and shadow RAW is the way to go. Both highlight and shadow detail are discarded in jpeg compression and can't be restored. There is an amazing amount of detail held in RAW files which can be brought out. I find that there is very little time used to restore the highlight and shadow detail from RAW files, and so much more that can be done. I shot jpeg for years because I didn't have RAW converters in my Photoshop to deal with the many different RAW formats that my students and I used. Now with Creative Cloud I'll never go back.
I have a good friend and magazine photographer who never corrected for WB in film days by using filters because he said whatever the color of light, he wanted it to stay that way. As far as realism I guess he's right. I do whatever adjustments look right to me. Shoot a person under a tree, and the blue from the sky and green from leaves can leave an unpleasant color cast on skin tones. It's pretty much subjective and no real right/wrong. AWB tends to neutralize any dominant colors shifting to the opposite color. A bright yellow becomes more blue, exc. Anything other than AWB just sets the camera for a certain color of light. AWB usually gets close enough to correct in post processing.
P lenses simply don't work at all on the D7000. The D7100 and some later apsc models work fine. The latest firmware update is recommended for the D7100. With the exception of the P lenses the D7000 works fine, even with older D lenses that have a screw drive.
Big Bend area of Texas is awesome in the winter. I was there several years at that time and wore a T-shirt with a long sleeve shirt over it. Still one of the most beautiful natural areas anywhere.