Hi Jlink,
A 8"-10" dobsonian might fit into your budget and allow you to take advantage of your dark skies. What did you dislike about your 90mm Meade scope? Wobbly mount? Hard to see faint objects clearly? Objects appeared dim? These are some of the problems with the cheaper, small refractors(Meade and Celestron are the best of a bad lot). A dobsonian will give you a stable, easy to use mount, better optics at a cheaper price(aperture to aperture of a reflector vs a refractor), and better light grasp/clearer images by virtue of the larger aperture of a 8" scope. The 10" scopes are amazing, but require much more effort to haul around. If you don't have a bad back, and you only have to set up in your back yard, the 10" may be a good choice. I have never been a fan of the ETX line of scopes as they are small aperture, and expensive for what you get when compared with dobsonian scopes. The ETX90 will give you similar views to your 90mm refractor, but without the false colour on bright objects like the moon. The ETX125 is a bit better, but neither scope will give you the same images that a 8-10" dob will give you. Check out Orion's XT-8 or XT-10 scopes. They are very highly rated for mechanical and optical quality, and are inexpensive. For more info check out my recommended scopes page:
http://www.absolutebeginnersastronomy.com/recommend.htmRichard Snow
