So I went out solo for the second time tonight and it didn't end up crazy but I had fun but it wasn't the goal I had set out to accomplish.

I started out around 11 PM with about two drinks and went out to the bar area (I'm in Seattle). Hit up a few bars and tried to motivate myself to talk to a bunch of people both guys and girls. They were short conversations and and nothing memorable.

My third bar I started talking to two dudes at the bar and they kinda just stuck from there. However, they were both pretty shy/AFC so didn't have much motivation to talk to the various girls at the bar. I basically ended up hanging out with them the rest of the night.

Looking back I'm not sure what I should have done. It was nice to be able to establish a 'home base'. However, after establishing a home base it felt similar to going out with friends where instead of talking to girls and mingling, you end up with the group of friends. Whats the best way to approach this scenario?