Replying to Recommend a car

so come this summer i need to buy a new car.
necessities
good gas milage - doing multiple seattle-boulder trips a year along with near daily drives to the mountain
midsize - must be able to carry a lot of gear/belongings (need to bring everything with me at the beginning/end of the summer between seattle-boulder). i dont need/want a massive car that will kill gas milage.
comfortable - 2+ hours behind the wheel won't suck.

so far my options/ideas are
ford escape (have been driving my families for the past 3 years and may have the opportunity to buy it from them, so its a good option)
jeep grand cherokee
subaru forester

ideally, i would like to spend around 6-7 grand, but could possibly take out a larger loan and go up to 10, but i would rather not.