instrument and fog lights

Starting a few weeks ago, every once in a while when I turn on my lights, the exterior lights come on, but the instrument panel does not light up. Instead, the parking light symbol beside the tach will come on. I've tired turning the light switch on and off a few times when this happens, but it does not fix the problem. What does happen is after 10-30 seconds, the instrument lights suddenly come on by themselves. When the instrument lights come on, the parking light symbol goes out. I've tried pushing the parking light button when this happens (since the warning symbol lights up) and it does nothing to fix the problem. The parking lights do function normally when the car is off. The fuses are all good, there are no issues with the solder joints that I can see on the back side of the fuse box. Does not happen every time I drive, usually everything just turns on instantly when I turn the switch. The fog lights also do not turn on when this happens since the fogs are on the same circuit as the instrument panel lights. What seems strange to me is the delay and also that the parking light symbol comes on. A bad circuit should just not work, but a delay? And why does the parking light symbol illuminate when this happens? I initially thought maybe the light switch in the stalk is going bad, but the exterior lights turn on so that can't be it. Anybody ever have this happen? I guess best to start checking all connections in the harnesses.