When I was a kid in western MA, elementary school was fairly close to home, but both jr high and high school were about a mile away -- I lived a few blocks shy of the school bus-eligible boundary in both instances.

I remember in particular walking with a neighbor to high school during the winter over snow so cold it squeaked, and be chanting in our newly-learned Spanish "¡Muy frio! ¡Es muy frio!"

Oh, and in elementary school, we had one of those tongue-frozen-on-cold-metal incidents during recess. I kid you not.