Day 7

July 4th.  The annual ape of American summer. We were supposed to get up and go on a hike North of town, but the kids begged us to go fishing. We decided to Tyra our luck since we only had four caught fish in the freezer, and to cook fish for all but one child would surely end in a disaster. We headed down to the lake and wet the lines.  Within an hour, we had caught three more fish.  The children were excited and made plans to eat them for dinner.
We headed into town for the July 4th festivities.  We decided to walk through downtown and find lunch.  We stopped to eat at a cafe downtown.  It was busy and the service was absolutely terrible.  Amazing how a poor service experience can absolutely ruin a meal.
From there we left and headed to an outdoor festival in downtown Durango.  The music was nice and the children quickly joined forces with other kids and ran around the park playing games and tag in the way that kids do.
Shortly after, we met up with the cousins and got ice cream at a local spot.  The parade would pass right by the shop.  All of the kids lined up on the curb for prime viewing.  It was your run of the mill parade with fire trucks and local floats. The kids enjoyed it and had fun catching the candy.  We said goodbye to the cousins and headed back to the campsite.
Before we left, I had soaked the fish with lime and salt.  We rinsed them and then I laid out a piece of foil for each child.  I threw a dab of coconut oil on each piece and then laid a fish down on each. I brought out spices and had the children season the fish.  By this time, the campfire was nice and warm.  We laid the foil wrapped fish over the grate with hot coals underneath. They cooked to perfection while we prepared the rest of the meal.  The fish were bony, but tasted delicious.  The kids had smiles on their faces, deriving satisfaction from eating their catch.  We then made s'mores and slept well, bellies full and exhausted from the days activities.