I think you answered the question right there (assuming you can afford out of state tuition).
If you can wrap your head around this, I grew up in Colorado and went to western NY for college, not knowing a single person at the school. I was going to go to CU with lots of my good friends, but it would have been high school 2.0. And I can honestly say it was my best decision I have ever made.
It will be difficult to be away from your family and friends, but you will survive and eventually thrive. You will make friends, go to parties, and ski the most easily accessible/most gnarly/most varied resort terrain pretty much anywhere in the US (debatable, but the drive times cannot be beat). You will hook up with random girls, go to football games, get drunk on the weekend...you will be in college.
There is too much emphasis on college rankings, especially when you are debating two well respected schools like U of U and UW. All that matters is that you get good grades, get professors to know your name, and work hard on getting internships/experiences related to your major. If you are doing engineering (like I did) internships are especially helpful when it comes time to find a job.
And if you do it right you will likely have a choice of jobs anywhere you want to live or choice of grad schools (luck will also be involved here but its mostly through connections). It is very possible to do well in college and still have a good time. BTW, college will go by much faster than high school. PM me if you want anymore info.
