My wife and I are heading to Virginia in a couple of weeks .. In the Charlottesville are what is there to do at this time of year ?????
A drive on the blue ridge parkway; and a visit to Shenandoah national park.
Virginia has a thriving winery industry, and if wine is something you're interested in, there are plenty to tour. Keeping in the alcohol theme, Depending on your route to the area, if you can pass through Luray, VA, there is a micro distillery operation there. Quite fond of Wasmunds products personally. www.copperfox.biz
Thomas Jeffersons Monticello is in the area.
If you are a civil war buff, there a many bits of history around to visit.
There's also -
Montpelier - home of President James Madison - about 30 minutes north of Charlottesville.
Ash Lawn - home of President James Monroe - just south of Charlottesville and very close to Monticello.
The grounds of the University have some nice walking tours to see the historic buildings.
There's several regions of Albemarle County that have some big estates and horse operations that people like to drive through and sight-see around, Keswick, Greenwood, Carter's Bridge.
There's a big steeplechase race on April 25th, it's an all day spectacular affair if you are into horse racing.
April 18-20 is garden week, and you can get tours of some of the estates that date back to the 1700's.
Lots of historic stuff to see, and some nice scenery and views during the spring.
I live north of Charlottesville, but all I have to show you is a pile of logs :) I'd be pleased to meet any FF member who finds themselves around Central Va for a cup of coffee.
Are you checking out colleges?
My wife and I drove almost the entire length of the Blue ridge Parkway last April, it was one of the most beautiful and enjoyable drives I've ever taken. The locals told us we were lucky to drive it before everything leaved out, because you can see down through all the valleys and such. People were all very friendly as well ! :)
Driving or flying? If driving I assume coming down I-95. Might swing by Washington DC and see tail end of the Cherry Blossom Festival. Plenty of other things to see there in DC if you can stand the area with Smithsonian, Zoo, Ford Theater around the corner from Hard Rock Café, etc. Weekends there is less traffic and hotels are cheaper than during the week.
Here a little west of you we have the various State Parks and such to see. We have a lot of eagles raising in the area and they are common to see along the river/lake. We watched several over the river from our lone Mexican restaurant Wednesday.
Good luck and hope you have a good trip.