Entertaining PTR! Thanks for posting.
Being a resident in the tourist town, (and saving $$$ between jobs) I chose to sequester myself to my apartment for "fall cleaning" for the weekend. The few times I made it out to Ralph's (or the newly renovated Henry's on Park- for those SD readers...) it really made me sad I at least didn't go *somewhere* for the weekend. Out of state tags were everywhere and no locals in sight; it made for some interestingly slow driving. Gas isn't THAT expensive. Silly me.
Being a beer connoisseur myself, I admire your itenerary. Sorry Liar's Club sucked. I would chalk that up to "it's a LOCAL place, for LOCAL people"! The cleanliness, like the service, leaves much to be desired. After a couple of hours in the surf, though, those burgers and beers are absolutely heaven. If you want to try another dive bar on a return visit try out Live Wire on El Cajon Blvd. They have good beers on tap AND local rock stars serving them to you. It's a neat place, but definitely a dive bar and not the caliber of beer friendly places you chose to visit. It seems that you pretty much hit it on the head making your local beer "credits."
For the researchers out there planning a San Diego/LA credit whoring beer trip (why else would you travel this far down the coast?)... Arrogant Bastard Ale IS served on the Pacific Surfliner- $8 for the 22oz bottle. Not quite a growler, but a darn good value when you can shop the 'ports and know you've got a good smoothie between destinations.
Just to comment on more park related stuff... Shipwreck amazed me when I first rode it (first season of Atlantis... 2/3 years ago?). I nowhere near visit the amount of parks most posters here do in a season (or most quality posters, anyway) but as far as rapids rides go, it's pretty freakin' awesome. JTA SD is a joke, but I can not compare it to it's counterpart.
Again, thanks for the report. It's always fun to hear someone's impression of my five year hometown.
Scott "favorite growler stop will always be at Free State in Lawrence, KS" Moore