Ok folks, checking in here for the first time since Christmas! Sorry for not being very responsive. :]
Thank you @dotremain, for sharing your experience! I can relate with a wobbly tripod head, since I’ve used one like that before. It’s almost better to not even have a tripod in that case! 😀
You can find Bulb mode in M mode. Just go beyond 30″ to B. https://www.eos-magazine.com/articles/camera-feature/bulb-mode.html However, when shooting the moon, because it moves so fast, I don’t think you’ll want to go any slower than 1sec (https://www.photopills.com/articles/moon-photography-settings#step6)
And to answer your question, nope! The assignment does not require a single shot. However, any photo manipulating that you do should be true to life. It is not acceptable to take a nice landscape photo and then photoshop in a moon wherever you want. The assignment is to photograph (not digitally recreate) the moon with the landscape. But that’s a good question!
And some great hints there, too. I have also found the Photographers Ephemeris helpful too for determining the times and direction of the sun and moon: https://app.photoephemeris.com/
When photographing the moon at its fullest, you’re right, you only have a short amount of time to work. However, a day or two before the full moon, or a day or two after the full moon, are also great times to photograph the full moon with the landscape. Sometimes its even better, since there’s more light to work with on the landscape. The only issue would be that before and after the full moon the moon isn’t technically “full”, but it looks full enough for photos.
That’s really neat that you were at basically the same spot before! After photographing the moon there, I thought it would be fun to go back for a sunrise sometime . . . to capture Sleeping Giant. Tis a small world. 🙂