Here is mine list (keep in mind that I'm still a novice):
1) The 2001 Leonid meteor shower, seen from Lake Tahoe. We were
at a small motel in South Lake Tahoe. Well after midnight we
drove to a dark site and counted meteors for hours. Some were
so bright that they were making shadows. Never expected the
show to be so great.
2) This January I got my first "real" scope - an 8" EQ. On the
very first night out (after a whole cloudy week I mean) I drove
to Santa Teresa hills, set the scope and looked at the Orion
nebula. Now, I wear eyeglasses and at the evening I don't
see very well, so I never knew what to expect. Couldn't
believe my eyes! The next thing I did (after finally being
able to move) was to switch to Jupiter. Whoooa! But wait,
what's this?! TWO(!) dark dots on the face of Jupiter! Moon &
shadow transit! And all this on my first evening out.
3) My first starhopping to 3C273 (and second try at starhopping
at all). Printed a bunch of finder charts and headed to Coyote
Lake. Expected to spend hours trying to find 3C273 and was not
sure if I'll make it at all. Surprisingly, took me less than
5 minutes (and I learned how important are the good charts).
Then for about an hour I just enjoyed the 2 billion years old
light of the faint dot.
If the subject includes purchase of astro equipment, I should
list the trip to Orion Telescopes shop at Cupertino where I
returned with tho HUGE white boxes containing my first "real"
scope. Of course it was cloudy outside that night, but nevertheless
I got up several times just to go to the other room to look at
the scope.
- Alex