Don't go to your local Walmart to buy a telescope. Most if not all telescopes that are at retail stores are of very poor quality. One, they advertise 600x 700x 800x which you will never get in many telescope. In order to get that kind of magnification out of a telescope you need to have the best day in an astronomers life. That means the sky would have to be crystal clear with no turbulence at all and still the scope would probably not give you the views you are looking for.
 I recommend several places on the Internet to buy a good telescope that won't break you at the bank. I personally recommend buying a reflector telescope. A reflector telescope uses two mirrors to obtain the image you want to see. I will post something a little later on reflectors and refractors and which and why I prefer them.
 You can buy a good reflector telescope for about 350 dollars, if that is too much you can buy one for around 200-250 dollars,it all depends on what size telescope you want to buy.
 I have an 8 inch Celestron dobsonian telescope that I paid 350 dollars for and I love it and it will last me a lifetime.  The setup is easy and very quick, I can set it up in about 3 minutes. And the views are great. 
 Here are a few sites to check out telescope and telescope styles.  http://www.telescope.com/  http://www.telescopes.com/