So, I've been doing photography on and off for years with my Canon 5D mk II.  I  have always been interested in astronomy and astrophotography but never took the leap.  I'll be buying my first telescope soon, partially because I can't wait anymore - I wanna do it!  And partially because I'm in a good financial position to buy something I don't plan to upgrade or change for a while.   My biggest fear when buying something for a hobby like this is wanting for the next thing up and regretting that I didn't take that option.  When I got into photography I started with a Canon 20D.  Only to upgrade less than a year later for the 5D mk II, kinda regretting the 20D purchase entirely.  I don't want to do this with telescopes.  I have two young daughters, and the oldest has expressed interest in the stars and solar system.  I want to enjoy this as much as I want her to as well.  My primary purpose is viewing, but eventually I will want to go into photographing the things we see.

I live in Rural Florida (panhandle), have access to very dark beaches (military access) as well as travel to the blue ridge mountains in Virginia once or twice a year to see family, and could take something this size in the minivan easily.

All that said, I'm looking hard at the Celestron CPC 1100 StarBright XLT.  It's the edge of my price range (and the edge of size/weight that I would want), but I can easily fork over 500 more in accessories if needed (many recommend the 2" eyepiece set).  Does anyone own this and use it as their primary viewing and photography scope, and how do you feel about it.  I understand color images and high quality ones are a compilation of images to produce color, limit atmospheric disruption, etc.  Its hard to find good examples of a viewing image and a photographed/processed image in the same object to compare.  Anyone have any?

Any other advice that I probably haven't already read up on?  (assuming I hit the basics)
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