Off Interstate 15 about 20 miles south of Salt Lake City, the Best Western Plus Cotton Tree Inn, Sandy, Utah, offers easy access to the area's attractions, with newly renovated rooms, a pool and hot tub, a fitness center, a full-service business center, meeting space, and a complimentary full hot breakfast. The hotel welcomes pets. The setting puts a Real Salt Lake soccer match and a hands-on living-planet aquarium close by, with a light-rail line two miles off that runs straight into downtown Salt Lake City. Temple Square, the convention center, and a downtown arena all lie at the end of the line. Sandy spreads across the south end of the Salt Lake Valley at the foot of the Wasatch Range, a handy gateway to some of the country's best skiing. World-class slopes at Snowbird, Alta, Brighton, and Solitude rise just up the Cottonwood canyons, with Deer Valley and Park City over the ridge, and the copper terraces of the Kennecott mine and the animals of the Hogle Zoo close at hand.