Good Beginner-friendly locations on the West Coast

My boyfriend and I have just introduced ourselves to bouldering, and are really enjoying it so far. We are planning a road trip down the West Coast (Vancouver - Los Angeles) early this summer and are wondering where to find some good places that have some fairly easy problems - neither of us have finished a V3 yet at the centre we use at home, although hopefully by summertime we will have improved! Thanks!

will you be coming down the coast or down I-5?

for northern cal coast -

moonstone/houda point on Humboldt coast
goat/sunset rocks on Sonoma coast
Stinson beach on Marin coast
ring mountain off 101 in Marin
castle rock state park near San Fran

How long are you looking to take, and when over the summer? The coast might be worth spending a day on, Goat rock has some cool stuff, the North coast supposedly does as well, but I'd make it a quick trip.

I'd look at spending time in Tahoe, the Valley, Tuolomne, and if you can stand the heat Bishop. There's easy stuff in all of those locations, as well as harder stuff to try yourself on.

If you're coming down 101 in the LA area, I would recommend stopping in either Santa Barbara
(see Brickyard or Lizard's Mouth ) or a little more off the beaten path, Pine Mountain .
A note about Pine Mountain, there are hundreds of problems here, do not let MP have you think otherwise.

Santa Barbara bouldering is more convenient, but you'd probably find Pine Mountain to feel like more of a hidden gem.

You need to drive directly to Stoney Point!!!

I5 is the quickest way.

Having done the 'roadtrip' a few times, the first 2 questions to ask oneself, "what do i want to see" and is camping free, cheap or $$ California state parks are anywhere from $23 (most) to $40+ PER NIGHT! Oregon is somewhat less. SO finding a place to throw down for <$$ is often a priority.
Federal forests are a good place to camp for free, but some forests are restricted. Also, be aware that with the state of water here in sunny California, none to little, there is talk about limiting access to areas due to fire danger.
All that said, have you thought about adding rope, draws, and harness to the trip? Opens a lot more opportunity.
The book "Rock and Road" can really help, not only in planning but in those 'unexpected' side trips. And don't forget the MP app, great for at the rocks.

If you don't mind traveling a tad further south / east, Palm Springs Tramway is amazing during the summer and has great density of v-easy to v-hard. It's worth spending a couple days there if you have the time. Plus you get to ride the 360* rotating tram to the top of the mountain!.

If you do decide to check it out, let me know and I can meet you two up there on a weekend and show you around.

PS Tramway

There's a few good well established boulders in San Luis Obispo. Santa Barbara area has a bunch of famous boulders. Too bad you're stopping in LA, because San Diego county has a lot of bouldering.

Definitely spend a few days at the lost boulders, California Oregon border. Camp fro free in red woods national park, whatever the back-country camping (1/4 mile from parking) is and boulders on the beach. Check the weather on the way through, also if you take the 5 instead of the 1 the nut tree boulders are a quick and easy exscursion, super beautiful and lots of easy problems.

Oh wow, so many suggestions! Thank you, everyone! We're going to be taking the #1 on the coast for the most part - trying to keep the drive scenic and off of major highways - for two weeks during late June and early July, so I'm really hoping we'll be able to check out a lot of these locations. We've already decided to spend at least a few days between San Francisco and LA (surfing), so we'll make a point to head to Castle Rock State Park, and I really like the "hidden gem" sound of Pine Mountain -- google says it's about 2 hours NE of Santa Barbara, is that correct?

Again, thanks everyone for the suggestions!