I knew a guy through business that would pack his wife and kids up and travel to Venezuela every Summer - there was a place their they could camp on some small river, and for a month they would work to find gold. He said they always found enough to pay for the vacation--sounded fun to me.
I would love to try that here, but I don't think there's much gold in the rivers in Texas. I have thought about going to Arkansas for a week to look for diamonds at the State Park there.
Good topic -