You need to take the ACT and SAT soon, to get an idea of what your stats will be. You may be able to get large merit elsewhere so that you can see another city/region of the country.
That said…paying a LOT more just to “see other US cities” isn’t necessary. You can see other cities for a lot cheaper in other ways.
There’s nothing wrong with wanting to go out of state. I’m a big proponent of students going to college in another region of the country because they discover so much at a time when there’s no practical downside (after college, you move where your job is; if you have a family, you have to move where you can relocate the entire family. Etc…) HOWEVER the student must make that possible financially. There’s no point in looking for the “same thing” just one state away if they don’t offer merit scholarships and you end up with the same thing as instate except more expensive :).
You have to look for places that’ll offer merit or that have attractive financial packages for your stats.
Loyola Chicago, Loyola Maryland, Marist, FSU, UAlabama, Tulane, Occidental, Agnes Scott, Northeastern, Macalester, Temple, Eckerd, Lewis&Clark, Saint Louis University, Hendrix… would all be possible ways to experience other areas of the country. In order to afford them, you’d need stellar ACT/SAT scores and curriculum rigor with good grades. So it all depends on you now.