I got my first non-kit lens for my Rebel XSi [EF-S55-250mm f/4-5.6 IS] I paid $140 for it. I know none of this is very high end but it was fun. I took about 300 pictures in 5 hours and made myself a bit sick eating elephant ears for lunch.  I camped out a bit for the cats and elephants and got rewarded. I wanted to do some sketching but the was no where to sit and the animals were only in view for a couple of minutes at a time.