The best bang for your buck is a dobsonian reflector. At a few hundred bucks, most other scopes will leave you disappointed. A 6”-8” aperture dobsonian is a great all around visual scope, but might seem a bit big. A pair of binoculars will also give some nice views.
https://www.cloudynights.com/index is a great place to ask questions, and the moderator of their “beginners” forum is “Wisconsin Steve”, so you might even get some local advise.
Thank you! I’ll check that out.
I had a friend that was an amateur astronomer and just used a backyard telescope to gaze at the Moon, which was his ‘thing.’
He now has a crater on the Moon named after him, which is pretty darn cool. ;)
(And it’s for reals - not one of those things you can buy on Mother’s Day or Valentine’s Day, LOL!)