Oh, and nice profile page you got there.
I AM INCREDIBLY JEALOUS!!!!
I have always coveted a telescope like you describe, but have never felt it worth the investment given the state of my vision. I haven't learned to fly for the same reason. I always used to love to hang out in the Nature Company Store in the Stamford Mall because they always had the telescopes that I coveted.
Where in California are you located? My wife and I spent five years, '77 to '82, on the pennisula in the SF area. We loved it, but couldn't afford it and couldn't think of raising our kids in an earthquake zone where overpasses and the like would probably separate us in an emergency. Of course, we're now in the Memphis area, only 70 miles from the largest recorded earthquakes in US history, plus we have tornadoes, but that's besides the point (g)