Hi Terri,
I can vouch for what these guys are suggesting. I wanted to jump into the deep end straight away and start taking photos of planets, nebulae, etc. I soon figured out that it was an iterative process that MUST be followed. Learn to crawl before taking those first tentative steps.
While I am slowly starting to collect equipment, I'm out every night that I can looking, searching, learning. Navigating the stars is a skill that must be learned before you can hope to get any decent images of what is up there.
Piggy backing is simply putting smaller telescopes on the bigger ones, to be used as either target finders or guide scopes for the automatic tracking required to take the phenomenal photos these guys take. It is truly a very involved, and expensive hobby.
Achromatic refractors seem to be the astro-photographers favourite type of telescope but the reflectors are still the work horse of amateur astronomy in my humble opinion. For now what you have can keep you intrigue for some time. I caught aperture fever right away and it has taken me some time to recover and realise that my little 5" reflector would have been more than enough for awhile.
You're not too far from me and there are a couple more IIS members here on the Central coast. We've been hoping the weather would clear and a Saturday night star party can be organised. Keep an eye out for announcements in the
Star Parties, Club and Community area Events for upcoming opportunities.
Good luck and don't hesitate to get out there and start looking. The group here are fantastic mentors so ask any questions that come to mind.