Kirsten Gum in the Raw

I just wanted to update everyone to the fact that Kirsten has a new website where she dabbles into the raw food lifestyle which can be found at http://kirstenintheraw.wordpress.com/ be sure to check it out!

Kirsten Hunts for Sea Glass

Meet Kirsten

Adventure traveler Kirsten Gum travels the world to dig up undiscovered gems on "Treasure Hunter: Kirsten Gum." The show, Kirsten and her guests will inspire the adventure traveler and treasure hunter in you.



So who is Kirsten Gum? Kirsten has quickly become one of the most recognized on-air personalities in sports commentating. She is versatile and charismatic, with a vivacious on-screen presence. But Kirsten is not just another pretty face


Her trip to the top has been a quick one. Kirsten began her broadcasting career at age 23 as a news reporter and paid her dues in a number of areas as she sprinted through the ranks.



Her ease in front of the camera comes from years of experience covering a wide range of world-class events: from NASCAR and the Tour de France to ESPN's Great Outdoor Games, the PBR World Championships, World Cup Skiing and the grueling three-week off-road race through Africa -- the Dakar Rally.



An Alaskan native currently living in Los Angeles, Kirsten is hardly a spectator. In October 2005, she completed the "Beast of the East," a 400-mile adventure race in Virginia. Racing on just 10 hours of sleep during the five-day event, Kirsten and her team fought their way to a strong second-place finish.



Don't pigeonhole her as a tomboy, though. She is equally at home in Lycra or a little black dress. Kirsten is passionate about sports, but her enthusiasm extends to travel and a wide range of experiences.



When she's not searching for gems on the set of "Treasure Hunter," Kirsten can be found hiking, cycling, snowboarding, scuba diving, kayaking, horseback riding or surfing.

Kirsten Gum: Treasure Hunter NEW PHOTOS

Tune in Saturdays nights at 8:00 ET . If you like "Cash and Treasures," you're going to love Treasure Hunter.

Cash and Treasures: The antique bottle dig

Cash and Treasures, as mentioned in a previous post, is a Travel Channel show that features kid friendly places. Host Kirsten Gum, an engaging sort, heads to where you can dig up treasure with or without kids.
Episode: Digging for antique bottles

What are they? Antique bottles. As in bottles. As in antiques. As in old.

Location: Gum headed to the Sacramento Valley in California, however, you can dig for antique bottles anywhere people lived years and years ago. You have to promise not to go all shovel happy, though. There are rules involved for where and how you go rooting around.

The Sacramento Valley offers promise for good digs because of the influx of people who settled here after gold was discovered in 1848. To find bottles, you have to find an outhouse. People used to throw out their trash down the holes. These days, the holes are often buried, and in this case, under a parking lot outside a store.



Gum asked the owner if she, along with Lou Lampert an antique bottle expert, could dig through the asphalt if they put it back the way they found it. This was more than a day process. By the time they were done, they were 12-feet down. The dig, hat involved specialized tools and a backhoe, was worth the trouble. The uncovered treasure included a still full champagne bottle, an embossed cobalt blue bottle (Gum's favorite), an ale bottle, and a late Civil War era gin bottle--all dating between 1860 and 1880.

Antique bottle digging probably won't make you a fortune, but it's fascinating. As Lampert and Gum pointed out, you can learn a lot from people's trash. For example, one bottle once contained Mrs. Winslow's Soothing Syrup for teething babies.

To find places to dig, look at old parcel maps that can be found at libraries, museums, historical societies and on-line. Once you locate a place to dig, make sure you ask for permission, and be careful. The full champagne bottle broke which Lampert said may have been caused by the change in air temperature when the bottle was brought from the hole to the surface.

For more tips on digging for bottles, check out Gum's blog. The backhoe was to speed things up. You could do a dig without one, I think.