Everyone tells me *I* should watch out for wackos on the internet, but turns out *I'm* the one everyone should be afraid of!!

The call comes in... Young padmeskywalker77 needs sustenance while in Vegas. I'm equal to the task, so I rush downtown in my dad's Outlander to meet her at the Imperial Palace. Yup. There's such a place. But does it really exist? Well... it does exist on the fringes of insanity.

We have determined to meet each other somewhere near the elevators leading to the parking garage. Or so we think. Once in the parking garage, I find myself lost amid a jungle of concrete supports, docking bays & other lost travelers. A kind security guard is thankfully available to point me back in the right direction. Once the transport is parked, it's now time to hoof it to the casino. Nope. No such luck. Where are the signs? Where are the big red arrows pointing to the place where we can all lose our money? No where. So, I move toward the light... the light of the edge of the parking garage in the hopes of finding my way. 2 spooky staircases later, I find my way to the casino and padme is waiting for me.

Now off to lunch! Leaving the parking garage was not any easier than my arrival. Back tracking to my car was almost as confusing as finding the casino in the first place. My advice to anyone coming to Vegas who wants to stay at the Imperial Palace AND meet me... let's meet somewhere else! This was more of a headache than we bargained for! Thankfully, we found the exit easily and were able to make our way to the Venetian without incident.

Oh no, that's not true, I did steal someone's parking space. In my defense I would like to say that the person waiting for the space was not visible from my line of vision (they were around the corner & on the wrong side of the huge truck backing out of the space) so what else could I do but park my car there? The woman behind the wheel glared at us as we got out of the car, but I just smiled. Figured at least make the attempt so when she jumps out and starts whipping ninja stars at us at least I can say "I tried to be nice..."

We found a wonderful little Italian cafe right in the fake St. Marks Square. We were able to indulge in a little bit of flirtation with the very cute waiter and a wonderful dessert for each of us after lunch. Conversation was easy & silly, and I realized it's been a long time since I've had a couple hours out with just a girl to talk to. It's actually quite fun! I think I need to do this more often.

After lunch, we strolled through the canal shoppes stopping to admire the canal water dyed an unnatural teal. We shouldn't dilly dally - she is actually in town with an entourage & I need to rescue my son from my parents before they totally stuff him full of sugar. We make our way back to the parking garage, happy to discover that the angry woman didn't key my dad's car. We pause to take a picture before leaving. Pause is an understatement since it took us 10 minutes to figure out how to work the timer on my camera - which ended up not even working - and fighting the wind which was whipping our hair into our eyes. Now, we're ready to leave.

Our drive back to the Imperial Palace was marred by rude drivers who HONKED at me for stopping behind other stopped cars (this happened twice), one taxi who squeezed past me as I tried to merge into the left lane (as in *I* was already in the lane but that didn't matter to him, he still needed to be in front of me because that extra 10 feet would make all the difference in the traffic jam), and another very rude driver who crossed a double yellow line to pass me while I went over a speed bump. My only consolation in that one was he bottomed out as he flew past me at top speed. Heh heh... joke's on you pal. No, wait, I can't laugh at him because just moments earlier I flew over a speed bump that I had no clue was even there!

I managed to get Padme down to the M&M store in one piece. I did not need to kick her out of the car, she jumped out voluntarily. Can't say I blame her.

Something funny happened, though, when Padme set foot on Vegas soil: she ruined our beautiful weather. She brought cold temperatures (in the 30's today), rain AND snow! YES, snow. You read that right. It snowed. Did I get a picture? No because I was trying very hard not to die among all the drivers freaking out because a little bit of frozen water was falling from the sky. The 30 minutes it usually takes me to travel from the strip back to my house ended up stretching in to an hour and a half. The snow was pretty, it didn't stick - just melted on contact - but it was fun to see. The mountains surrounding the valley are all covered in snow, but we don't have any snow to show for it on the ground.

In all, it was a really really fun day! I'm glad Padme made it out here for the weekend and I am especially happy that I did not kill her. I swear that I am usually a very safe driver, but something about the poor weather today just sent this place in to a frenzy. Two things I learned today: 1) Don't drive in bad weather in Vegas and 2) never go back to the Imperial Palace.