I don't agree with your line of reasoning. There are a lot of not only interesting but also commercially viable things right here in our solar system. We have

I don't agree with your line of reasoning. There are a lot of not only interesting but also commercially viable things right here in our solar system. We have several huge balls of fuel, each of which has many orders of magnitude more energy that humanity has harnessed in our entire history. There are planets that we can build on and adapt to, or potentially adapt to us. There are millions of floating gold mines with more mineral riches than than exist in the entirety of earth. Regarding the distances, I don't think they are as big as you are putting them out to be. If you look at the ratio of how far we need to travel to get somewhere interesting(moon, mars, comet, etc) over how fast we can travel( 36,000 MPH+) and compare that to the ratio of the European wind powered ships speed vs a trip to the new world, you'd see that the solar system is not at all outside of our reach and there are many precedents to speak to humanities willingness to make sure trips.