Cash and Treasures: Travel Channel's family friendly fare

I have become enamored with Cash and Treasures, the Travel Channel's show dedicated to digging up things and making money while you're at it. For the last three weeks, I've caught the Wednesday night, 10 PM episode and picked up some ideas for places to stop on our trip west this summer. The number of treasures one can dig up in the United States, Cash and Treasure's primary focus, is impressive.

Unlike a lot of other travel shows where one wonders if the world has any children at all, new host Kirsten Gum, who is the replacement for Becky Worley who had twins, chats with kids in every episode. Gum heads to family friendly places where kids are as welcome as adults to pick up digging tools and have at it. Gum also seems to enjoy the kids she is talking with, and for the most part, doesn't use them as photo ops. They are given time to talk about what they are finding. At the dig spots, Gum delves into the history of the area and why whatever is being mined is considered worth finding.

Along with finding out where and what to dig, people who tune into the show can find out how to make some money off their finds. Gum takes her stash of whatever she's found during that particular episode to people who show her how to clean it, mount it and turn it into jewelery. Many of the businesses have been in operation for years and the people who run them are experts. Since each place Gum has visited is worth a detailed mention stay tuned. One place will be the focus of one post. Gems, bones, gold and fossils are on the menu.

Filed under: Arts and Culture, History, Learning, Stories, United States, Ecotourism