What's like visiting Crystal City, the Amazon HQ2 website

It's official – Amazon moves to Northern Virginia.

It already had many offices and data centers in the region, but e-commerce giant chose Arlington's Crystal City neighborhood (along with Queens, New York) as one of two places for its "HQ2" extension.

Crystal City is not one of Arlington County's most traffic areas. It is a tired, mainly office and hotel neighborhood, separated from the more residential and viable parts of the area by a giant 8-way highway.

Crystal City is also close to the Pentagon, the US military headquarters.

Many northern Virginians have never really explored the Crystal City area, unless they work in the area or serve in the military. For most locals there is a place you drive through on your way to Reagan National Airport.

Then one day last week, I spent one day checking out the properties Amazon has committed to renting or buying, and imagined how life could be for the 25,000 employees Amazon plans to employ in the next decade .

Here's what I learned: