Hi Chris, you should have led the charge and asked about Keller, I might have taken the bait if it was offered. 🙂
For you and Bernie..
For M51, here is a description from Phil Harrington's Starwatch book that I use to find it:
"Begin at Alkaid, the end star in the handle of the Big Dipper. Hop to the star 24 Canum Venaticorum, a 4th magnitude star just over the border in the constellation Canes Venatici. From here, visualize an isosceles triangle formed by Alkaid at the northwest corner, 24 Canum as the center point, and a third point an equal distance away from the star 24 Canum as is Alkaid. If you aim your binoculars or telescope's finderscope in this area and look carefully, you should notice a rectangle of 4 faint stars. M51 lies just inside the rectangle's northeast corner. "
The rectangle of 4 faint stars is not a nice rectangle, 4 sided anyway. 🙂
Good luck!