Wow That must of been AWESOME.I haven't sen the saturn neb yet.The amount of detail you have described is amazing,i'll have to give it a go one day.Regarding sketching the same thing happened to me when i wanted to potray detail that i was seeing on mars and the seeing dropped.Try and make a sketch from your observation notes it might just work.
I suppose this one experience can count for all the crappy cloudy days.Just like when i was about to pack up and saw a fireball race across the sky,most amazing experience i've had in astronomy.
Clear skies
regards Orestis
ps-looking forward to the full report