Hi John,
Lots of good advice here.
I'll just add a couple of things. One of the biggest frustrations for beginners is actually finding what they are looking for and as a beginner in an area that has some light pollution to contend with just adds to the difficulty so having said that I would suggest as others that your spotting scope will do quite well for a start.
As for finding things to look at, well if you were to put your spotting scope on say an EQ5 goto mount and if possible with a red dot as a finder for a three star align, with a little practice setting up and a three star alignment will have you finding everything you want to try out your scope on.
When I got my first goto mount, an EQ6 Pro I think I looked at more targets in that first night than I had done in the previous few months and it just blew me away as how good it was to able to find things so as you want to be able to setup for a couple of hrs without too much fussing the field of view of the 80mm scope will surprise you.
This would be a vey portable and easily used place to start and even lend itself to beginning some astro imaging.
Good luck with your choices.
