Interestingly, living in San Jose is the first time I've regularly walked to the grocery store. Why not when I lived elsewhere, equally close or closer to perfectly good Kroger, Harris Teeter, Food Lion, Publix or Winn-Dixie? Hills. Walking 4 blocks carrying groceries up and down hills in heat & humidity (or snow & ice) isn't remotely the same as on flatland in a mild climate.