I spend at least 50% of my observing time in summer simply scanning the milky way. The summer milky way around Sagittarius and northward is one of the great sights in astronomy IMO, and the area around Cygnus is stunning as well. I have a pair of Orion 12X63's for casual scanning as well as a pair of Celestron 25X100's on a universal astronomics heavy duty unimount. That setup usually draws a small crowd at star parties.