Nah, im not interested in the scalers, I rather like the look of the Losi Night Crawler and such. I'll first purchase the Micro crawler and see how long I keep interested in crawling before I spend money on a full sized one, just to be sure.
I too would go with the mini over the micro. For a bit more money you could get the mini which has HUGE support and also you can fart around on the rocks a bit more to see if you like it. The micro is almost limited to indoors which will surely bore you in a hurry.
On the wheely king, there is no argument that it is not the best platform lol. I bought it new, 2wd, and went to town from there. The only stock parts I have left are the axle housings, bearings and tranny case... I have more into the axles alone than what the truck is worth brand new but I learned A LOT about the axles, how everything works and crawling in general. Starting with an under-performer will make a better crawler out of you anyways.
I saw that even Integy has entered the crawler game with the IRock 1/8th scale. Not knowing much about crawlers, it at least looked good for the price they were asking (I think I was at Hobbytown).
Freeze - you have more good places to run available to you than most of these guys can even dream about. With the terrain choices you have, I wouldn't go with the mini size - The Axial would likely be a wiser choice for you.
Losi 8T 1.0, Savage Flux - XL style, LST XXL, Muggy, 3.3 E-Revo Conversion and sitting outside 425hp, 831 Tq Dodge Ram Turbo Diesel. It SMOKES
Crawling is amazingly fun for as slow as it is. The run times are also a huge bonus. If it isn't for you then it isn't for you, but personally I love watching the suspension work and seeing the little machine conquer the terrain. I don't have a crawler (too many other toys to get rid of before I can let myself buy one) but it's very technical (for people like me, that means fun) and we have no shortage of crawling terrain out here.
All I ever wanted was an honest weeks pay for an honest days work.